CHAPTEE Vlir. 



Rearing the Young Birds. 



SUCCESS in the rearing of young birds, it cannot be 

 too strongly impressed on the inexperienced pheasant 

 rearer, is never the reward of those who practise 

 perpetual intermeddhng with the sitting hens. All inter- 

 ference at the time the eggs are hatching is injurious ; 

 nevertheless, there are fussy people who cannot imagine 

 that anything can progress rightly without their assist- 

 ance ; when the eggs are chipping they disturb the fowl to 

 see how many are billed ; this is generally resented by the 

 hen, who sinks down on her eggs, and most probably crushes 

 one or two of them, and thus renders the escape of the young 

 birds almost impossible. It is perfectly true that sometimes 

 an unhatched bird, that would otherwise be unable to extricate 

 itself, may be assisted out of the shell and survive, but 

 it is no less certain that for one whose life is preserved in 

 this manner a score are sacrificed to the meddling curiosity of 

 the interferer. 



The chicks should be left under the hen till they are 

 twenty-four hours old without being disturbed ; by this time 

 the yolk which is absorbed into the intestines at the period of 

 hatching will have been digested, and the young birds 

 become strong enough to run from under the parent hen. 

 If the fowl is set in one of the coops with a wire run such 

 as I have recommended, she had better be left alone, and will 

 leave the nest herself as soon as the chicks are strong enough 

 to follow her. The ridiculous practice of taking the young 

 birds as soon as hatched, dipping their bills in water or milk 



