WATER FOB YOUNG BIBBS. 121 



My idea is that in a wild state they can wander in search of 

 dew, and also feed upon more moist and natural food than the 

 egg, meat, and herbs that are chopped for them when reared 

 under hens. I am aware that it is quite a common practice 

 amongst keepers to deprive the little birds of water, and I 

 cannot but feel it to be a cruel as well as a mistaken one. I 

 believe that dry food wants water to aid digestion ; and when 

 birds are kept all day in small wired inclosures in the full 

 blaze of the sun, it seems to me that they must require water 

 to keep them healthy ; and I also think that if they, have a 

 little always in the pen, they will drink less than when only 

 given to them once a day. I saw a brood last week that had 

 only had water once, quite early in the morning ; they were 

 being fed again in the evening, but would eat nothing. I 

 then ordered some water to see what they would do, and the 

 little birds and the old hen went to it at once, and seemed as 

 if they could never have enough." And a third, writing to 

 me on the same object, states : " I have been a rearer of 

 pheasants for nearly thirty years. I give mine an unlimited 

 supply of water at all stages of their growth, and I consider 

 that it would be great cruelty to withhold it from them. I do 

 not consider broods brought up by their mothers in dry fields 

 where no water is to be found at all to the point. How can 

 our poor artificial food compare with the thousand and one 

 varieties they find in nature, full both of nourishment and 

 moisture, with which it is impossible for us to supply them in 

 confinement. I quite endorse your suggestion as regards the 

 great value of lettuce for pheasants. I have fed them for 

 some years with it, and they are very fond of it." 



On the other hand, many successful keepers do not give 

 water, or only in very small quantity. One correspondent 

 says : " I know a keeper who rears a great number of 

 pheasants each year, and he does not give them water till 

 they are seven or eight' weeks old, at which age they begin 

 to eat barley and corn, and require water to assist digestion. 

 He says that pheasants in their wild state take the dew in 



