62 MANAGEMENT OP PHEASANTS IN OONPINBMENT. 



sat and hatched tliirteen birds. She allowed me to lift her off the nest, and I 

 took her and her young and put them in a hen coop, and she has reared them 

 well, and quite as tame as any of my hens that I have rearing pheasants, allows 

 me to drag the coop on to fresh ground, and never flutters. As soon as I throw 

 the food in front of the coop she commences calling her young. They are now 

 about the size of landrails, and the whole of them living." 



To prevent the fatal habit of eating the eggs, no care should be spared, as 

 it is entirely subversive of any hope of success in rearing. As before stated, it may 

 be in great part prevented by the frequent collection of the eggs. Mr. F. Crook 

 truly remarks : " The male bird in confinement frequently takes to pecking the 

 eggs, at first only for want of something more natural to do. Having no space, 

 no fields and copses to roam about and amuse himself in, he pecks and pushes 

 the egg about. At last it gets chipped, and he tastes of its contents, and he wiU. 

 not then leave it until consumed, and the abominable habit is confirmed in him. 

 As it is usually the male bird that commits these vexing faults, a loose hurdle 

 forming a corner pen, into which he can be driven, will be found most useful, as 

 he should only be allowed amongst the hens after they have laid their eggs for 

 the day ; and aU having been removed, a wooden egg may be exchanged for the real 

 one, which wUl soon tire him out ; and the bad habit may be cured, and no loss 

 of time occur in the breeding season. But whether the birds are troublesome or 

 not in this respect, the attendants must make periodical visits to the breeding pens 

 for the purpose of collecting the eggs, as they should never be allowed to remain 

 about." 



There is no doubt but that bad management and improper feeding tend to 

 promote this serious evil. The frequent disturbance of the birds by the inquisitiveness 

 of visitors, bad and improper stimulating food, without a sufficiency of green 

 vegetable diet, want of cleanliness in the pen, an insufficient or dirty supply of 

 water, and want of grit to assist digestion, all aid in developing the habit. Mr. 

 J. I*. Dougall, in his " Shooting Simplified," suggests the following mode of 

 preventing the practice when once established : " In pheasantries, means should 

 be taken to prevent the eggs being destroyed by the male bird; and as it is 

 impossible to keep continual watch, the hen should be induced to seek a dark 

 secluded corner by forming for her an artificial nest covered thinly with straw. 

 Under this straw have a net of mesh exactly wide enough to allow the egg to 

 drop through into a box below, filled with soft seeds or shellings, leaving only a 

 few inches between ; the cock bird cannot then reach the egg, which falls uninjured 

 on the soft seeds below, and is safely removed." 



Mr. Leno writes : " I have invariably found the cocks to be the culprits. 

 As soon as a pecked egg is found, the cock bird should be removed, and the hens 

 left by themselves for a few days, to see whether he is or is not the guilty one;. 



