PHEASANTRY EGGS VERSUS WILD ONES 



to strengthen the constitutional stamina of the birds raised 

 from penned Pheasants. 



Some gamekeepers, when they remove the eggs from the 

 nest, carry them home in the shirt bosom, pocket, etc., but an 

 ingenious invention known as the " Foster-mother Egg Belt " 

 has recently been patented to act as a safe carrier for eggs. 

 The latter can be kept warm for about thirty-six hours. 

 This belt is worn underneath the keeper's waistcoat, and has 

 a number of cotton-wool compartments into each of which 

 a Pheasant's &gg can be fitted. There is another advantage 

 in using this belt, and that is the eggs or a portion of them 

 can be removed from one nest and exchanged for that of 

 another, so that a system of cross-breeding can be followed.* 



If the season is a particularly wet one, it is not economical 

 to allow much natural hatching, it being better under these 

 circumstances to gather in most of the eggs and rear the 

 birds under hens. 



A word of caution is necessary with regard to the purchase 

 of wild eggs from labourers and others, as the writer has 

 known a gamekeeper purchase eggs that have been obtained 

 from the estate over which he had charge in the preservation 

 of game ; but Pheasant egg stealing is, unfortunately, in spite 

 of stringent legislation, far too common. 



The rewarding of labourers for the discovery of nests is 

 a commendable practice, so far as it goes, but this may 

 develop into a vice, and it does so through two channels, 

 namely, by training them to make specific excursions with 

 a view to discovering them, and secondly, for the pecuniary 

 gain attached to it. The honorarium should only be given 

 when it is absolutely certain that the chicks have been 

 hatched from the eggs, as proved by the evidence afforded 



* The belts referred to can be obtained in three sizes from Messrs Gilbertson 

 & Page, Hertford. 



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