CHAPTER yi. 



MANAGEMENT OE PHEASANTS IN CONEINEMENT. 



FORMATION OE PENS AND AVIARIES. 



\ 



■ AVING treated of pheasants as wild birds, their rearing and 

 management in enclosed pens and aviaries have next to be 

 considered. "When pheasants are hred for turning out into the 

 coverts, and not as merely ornamental aviary birds, the system 

 of movable enclosures, constructed of rough hurdles, will be found 

 far superior to any more elaborate contrivances, for, when the 

 breeding birds are kept in the same place year after year, the 

 ground becomes, in spite of all the care that may be bestowed on 

 it, foul and tainted, disease breaks out even amongst the old birds, 

 and the successful rearing of young ones is nearly hopeless. 

 The pens should be situated in a dry situation, sandy or chalky if 

 possible, but any soil not retentive of wet will answer. If the surface is sloping 

 it is to be preferred, as the rain is less likely to render the ground permanently 

 damp. Although cold is not injurious to the mature birds, and they require no 

 special shelter, the south side of a hill or rising ground is to be chosen in 

 preference, as the young stock are deMcate. Common wattled hurdles, made seven 

 feet long, and set up on end, make as good pens as can be desired; they should 

 be supported by posts or fir poles driven firmly into the ground, with a horizontal 

 pole at the top, to which the hurdles are bound by tarred cord, or, still better, 

 very stout flexible binding wire, which should also be used to secure them together 

 at top and bottom. The posts should be inside the pen, as better calculated to 

 resist any pressure from without. 



The hurdles should rest on the ground without any opening below, and if 

 they are sunk three or four inches below the surface, the pens wiU be more 

 secure against dogs and foxes or any animals likely to scratch their way Tinder. 

 The size of these pens should be as large as convenient; for a cock and three to 

 five hens — the utmost number that should be placed together — as many hurdles 



