PHEASANT FARMING 



13 



Should the pan of shorts or dirt become heated it means that 

 the larvae are too crowded and will leave if possible. A part should 

 bo removed to another pan or given a larger proportion of shorts or 

 dirt. With facts above, your own ingenuity and some experience will 

 suggest convenient methods for producing larvae. 



From reliable ornithological authority we have the statement that 

 were all bird life destroyed, in ten years the face of the earth would 

 be uninhabitable. 



Speaking of the China pheasant. Judge Denny says: "The 

 Chinese farmers never shoot the birds nor do anything which tends to 

 freighten them from their fields, holding them friends rather than 

 enemies, doing far more good to their crops than harm, by the 

 destruction of insects." 



The true plieasants (Phasianus) will breed the following spring 

 after hatching, while the male birds of the Golden, Amherst, Silver, 

 j:nd Swinhoe are not in full plumage until the second year. The first 

 two will breed at a year old, but the latter two not until two years 

 eld. Silver and Swinhoe should be mated in pairs. For stocking 

 purposes, pheasants should be liberated in pairs. 



It is well to clip the wings of the birds when about two or three 

 v/eeks old. To do this, use care, extend the wing fully and cut each 

 pionion feather from middle of wing outward, cutting between shaft 

 r.nd quill. Do not cut the remaining feathers or you will leave the 

 lungs unprotected. The pinion or flight feathers are the coarse feath- 

 ers near the tip of the wing. I also advise pinioning pheasants where 

 they are kept in aviaries. This does not injure their looks, as the 

 absence of the flight feathers is unnoticed, and the birds cannot injure 

 themselves by striking against wire, and also has the added advantage 

 of permitting birds to be kept in yards enclosed by a six or eight foot 

 fence only, eliminating the cost of wire covering overhead. The 

 operation requires no skill and consists in clipping off the wing at 

 the first joint with a sharp pair of scissors, immediately applying 

 soot or ashes, to arrest the flow of blood, and can best be done when 

 the birds are about three days old. 



To catch pheasants, use a net similar. to a fisherman's landing 

 net but made of heavier material, such as denim or burlap, and 

 provided with a five-foot handle.. In handling the birds don't hold 

 by a leg or wing. The wing bone, particularly, is very fragile, and a 

 broken wing or leg will surely result if you are careless in this regard. 



