COST OF PHEASANT BEARING. 123 



many pheasants and birds for me. One year, strange to say, 

 out of 211 lie did not lose one. Certainly the sen son was 

 favourable. Little water, and food thrown wide round 

 the coops, seems to be his system." The scattering the 

 food on clean soil being the most probable source of his 

 success. 



Inquiry is frequently made as to the cost of rearing 

 pheasants in numbers. It is very difficult to state even an 

 approximate sum, so much depends on the conditions under 

 which they are raised. For food only until they are ready to 

 go into the coverts, an average amount of from Is. to 1*. 6d. 

 per head may be stated. Mr. T. 0. Cade writes : " The result 

 of my own observations in two years (1870 and 1878) is as 

 follows — In 1870 my keeper's bill for four hundred birds was, 

 eggs, £5 6s. Qd.; bread, £1 12s. 44rf. ; milk, £2 lis. 8d.; 

 suet, 13s. 6d.; 'secrets,' 7s. 6d.—£10 lis. Q^d. To this 

 must be added Indian corn, meal, and rabbits ; but I cannot 

 give the exact quantity of each, as dogs were fed from the 

 meal barrel, and the rabbits were not counted ; £9 8s. is, I 

 consider, a fair estimate of the cost of what was used for the 

 birds — making a total of £20 for four hundi'ed, or Is. each. 

 About the ' secrets ' I can say nothing, except that none ai-e 

 required. 



" In 1878, for three hundred under my supervision, the 

 cost was : Very coarse Scotch meal, £9 15s. 6d. ; milk, £3 ; 

 eggs, £1 15s. ; rennet, 2s. 8d. ; wheat, 8s. Sd. ; bread, 

 5s. ll\d. ; sheep's paunches (two hundred), £1 5s. ; a horse, 

 10s. ; a cow, 5s. ; a sheep, 5s. The last three for praducing 

 maggots. Total — £17 12s. d^d. No rabbits were used. 

 With this supply of food, at the cost of a little more than 

 Is. a head, not only were 97 per cent, of the birds reared, but 

 I think they were as fine as possible." 



The cost of labour, protection, &c., varies so much in 

 different localities and under different circumstances that it 

 is impracticable to draw up even a rough average of general 

 application. Under very favourable conditions, as Mr. Cade 



