REAEING THE YOUNG BIRDS. 73 



curd is a hard mass. There are several objections to curd as food. The alum 

 is a powerful astringent, and can hardly be recommended as a natural diet for 

 young birds. The curd so made only contains two of the constituents of the milk, 

 namely, the caseine and the cream. The whey, containing the sugar of milk, the 

 saline ingredients, and, above all, the bone making materials, is rejected, whereas, 

 when the milk is made into custard, the whole of the constituents are retained,^ 

 and to them is added the no les,s valuable ingredients of the egg. There is in 

 fact no comparison to be made between the nutritive values of curd and custard. 



When the hens are cooped, as is necessary where numbers of pheasants 

 are reared, a good supply of fresh vegetable food is absolutely necessary; and I 

 believe that nothing surpasses chopped lettuce, as the pheasants take to it much 

 more readily than they do to onions, watercress, &c., or other green food. The- 

 greater the variety of food the better, therefore, in addition to the articles before 

 spoken of, a little crushed hempseed, millet, dari, and coarse Indian corn meal, if 

 fresh, &c., may be added. 



As the mode of treating pheasant chicks by different breeders varies^ 

 considerably, it is desirable that I should indicate the management which has 

 been found successful in other hands. I wiU. first quote the practical directions 

 of Mr. Bartlett, the experienced superintendent of the gardens of the Zoological 

 Society, Regent's Park. This paper was written for Mr. D. G. Elliot's "Mono- 

 graph on the PhasianidesB," and I beg to return my thanks to these gentlemen 

 for permission to quote it in extenso. Mr. Bartlett writes : — " At first the chicks 

 require rather soft food, but not very moist. One of the best things to give 

 them is hard boiled egg grated fine, and mixed with good sweet meal, a little 

 bruised hempseed, and finely-chopped green food, such as lettuce, cabbage, water- 

 cress, or mustard and cress. Meal mixed with boiled milk until it is like a tough 

 dough, sufficiently dry to crumble easily together with a small quantity of mUlet 

 and canary seed, is also excellent for them. A baked custard pudding, made 

 of well-beaten eggs and milk, is likewise of great service to the young; and 

 if the season , is wet and cold, a little pepper, and sufficient dry meal to render 

 it stiff enough to crumble, should be added before baking. Ants' eggs, meal- 

 worms, and grasshoppers, are also very useful. The first of these are easUy 

 obtained in a dry state, in which condition they can be kept many months,, 

 and are invaluable. Care should be taken that fresh and finely-chopped green food 

 should be given daily. Many persons are in the habit of giving gentles to young 

 birds; there is great danger in these; and I merely mention them, without recom- 

 mending their use ; for, unless the person who gives them will take the trouble to 

 keep them for some time in moist sand or damp earth until they have become 

 thoroughly cleansed, they are apt to cause purging. Many valuable birds have been 

 lost by the incautious use of gentles freshly taken from the carcase of some dead 



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