118 PHBASAJTTS ADAPTED FOE THE AVIARY. 



of the legs or wing, for injury is certain to ensue ; but take up the bird with 

 both hands tightly round the body over the wings. This is the only safe way of 

 capture, and they then may be taken about without injury at all, either to their 

 plumage or to themselves. 



" I would advise aviaries for their accommodation to be covered in entirely 

 from the rain, as nothing tends so much to keep them in perfect feather ; and then 

 it will not be by any means difficult to guard them against another great annoyance 

 — that of cats prowling about during the night and at twilight. Erom this cause 

 numbers of pheasants of either kind have been destroyed, not from an actual hurt 

 received from the cat, but from the birds in their fright flying furiously against 

 the roof or the wirework, and scalping themselves. This may be prevented by 

 letting a ' tar-sheet ' be fixed closely every night, to cover the whole of the open 

 work of the aviary. It has this double service : it prevents sudden rain wetting 

 the sanded floor and causing damp (producing rheumatism in the inmates), and by 

 being opaque prevents the shadow of passing cats being seen ; for if they see cats 

 at night, the birds will fly, and thus seriously damage themselves. I found simple 

 canvas for this purpose of no use whatever, being semi-transparent'; the tar-sheet is 

 effective from its density. It is on moonlight nights that the greatest danger is to 

 be feared, for on these occasions the cats come very long distances, attracted no 

 doubt by scent, and when they have once found your birds will be sure to pay them 

 almost nightly visits. As the birds are valued for their beauty, it will add 

 considerably to the perfection of their plumage to place a sufficiency of perches 

 for the accommodation; not spare and thin ones, but made of deal spars about 

 l^in. square, the sharp edges being taken oflF with a plane. This will prevent their 

 tails rubbing, and, whether intended for attraction or sale, add not a little to their 

 value. 



" In selecting the brood stock, a cock with four or even five hens wiU be a 

 fair proportion. I always prefer a cock bird of the second year, and hens of 

 the same age (because they lay far more eggs), though the eggs of pullets of the 

 preceding year are productive. The young hens wiU only lay ten or twelve eggs in 

 a season, but the older birds when carefuUy managed will frequently lay thirty to 

 forty eggs in the same period. These eggs require a longer incubation than those 

 of common fowls, as they generally hatch on the twenty-fourth day, though I have 

 repeatedly known them continue in the shell a day longer ; therefore, if desirous of 

 rearing a chicken or two with them (to insure greater familiarity), the fowls' eggs 

 must be deposited accordingly, as nothing tends so sadly to unsettle a hen at 

 hatching time as some portion of her chicks coming a day or two previously to the 

 remainder, and it not unfrequently leads to the desertion of her nest. 



" The eggs should be at once removed from both Golden and Silver 

 Pheasants directly they are laid ; the latter being especially inclined to peck 



