Nv. cook's turkf.v, goose, and pheasant book.. 27 



Many people hang up a dead fo^\^, rabbit, piece of horse- 

 flesh, or piece of dead sheep, and the young pheasants are 

 allowed to go underneath and pick up the maggots as they 

 fall. 



This is altogether wrong for two reasons, first of all it 

 makes the young pheasants dainty, they get so fond of them 

 that they will not eat their food. Secondly, there is a nasty 

 slime upon the maggots when they first leave the meat, and 

 that brings on diarrhoea in the young birds. Then again, 

 the meat, or whatever it may be, must hang up a certain 

 time until it smells, in hot weather it smells very badl)', 

 which is most unpleasant. Now it is much better to bury 

 the meat in the ground and put half or three-quarters of an 

 inch of soil or chaff on the top and some sawdust, just to 

 make it light, then the maggots in working through to the 

 top of this cleanse themselves. It is well to lay a thin bag 

 over the place, so that it is kept dark and the maggots will 

 always come to the top when they are full. The old sack 

 or bag answere two purposes, in the first place it makes it 

 dark for them, secondly, it is a protection against all kinds 

 of birds fetching the maggots away, which sparrows and 

 other birds are always ready to do if they once find out 

 ■where they are. The maggots can then be gathered up and 

 put under a box or pail. This should be done in the 

 evening, so that the pheasants can have two good feeds 

 before it becomes dark. If managed in this way it does 

 not make the birds daint)-, but when they have too many 

 maggots given them they turn against their other food. 

 When young pheasants are not doing well or drooping a 

 little, they should have a few given them three or four times 



