BEARING THE YOUNG BIRDS. 



75 



meat being composed of sheep's heads and plucks, taken from the bone and finely 

 minced, and just sufficient of the broth to form a dry crumbly paste. At five 

 weeks old I consider a feed of good wheat and barley alternately, the last thing at 

 night, quite necessary, not forgetting, at this age, to add a little tonic solution 

 of sulphate of iron to their water daily. At this time their feathers require a 

 great deal of support, and if the bodily strength is not supported by a strengthening 

 diet, they must give way. Continue the custard up to eight weeks old, but adding 

 more meal to it, with the green food. Give one sort of food, at a time (just 

 so much that they eat it clean up), and attendance every hour from the time you 

 commence to feed until shut up for the night. Change the water repeatedly during^ 

 the day." 



With regard to the coops employed for the hens with young pheasants, a 

 form much recommended is one made like a box, 3ft, long, 2ft. wide, and 2ft. high 

 in front, sloping off to 1ft. high at the back, and having a movable boarded floor 

 that may be employed if the ground be wet. The birds ought to have a further 

 space of about two yards square to run in, fenced in by sparrow-proof wire netting. 

 A good coop of this kind is made by E. Crook, of Motcombe-street, and is shewn 



in the cut. The inclosed run, which is proof against rats and sparrows, &c., affords 

 a sufficient space for the exercise of the young birds for the first few days after 

 hatching, after which the coops should be placed without the wire runs in the spot 

 where the young birds are to be reared, the grass, if high, having been mown 

 around some short time previously, so that the young shoots and tender clover may 

 be growing for the use of the birds. Mr. Reynolds, of Old Compton-street, has some 

 admirable coops of a similar kind. The advantages of these arrangements have been 

 very ably set forth by Mr. T. C. ' Cade, of Spondon, Derby. He writes : " There 

 is a great saving of food, as small birds are excluded by the wire netting; and it 

 is also practicable to put down a good supply of food at night, so that the young 

 pheasants may be able to feed as soon as they wake, and not be kept waiting, 

 according to the usual plan, for two or three hours during the long summer 

 mornings before they are let out. My birds are never shut in the coop at night, 

 the wire netting being sufficient protection against vermin and cats. I do not know 

 whether any of your readers have ever accompanied their keeper on a hot summer 

 morning when he is letting the young birds out of the coops. If not, let them da 

 so, and but put their noses within a foot of the coop, and I will venture to say 



L 2 



