W. COOK S JURKKY, GOOSE, AND PHEASANT HOOK. 



twelve and fourteen hens have run with one cock, and 

 as a rule, eighteen eggs out of every twenty have been 

 fertile, so that amateur pheasant breeders need not be 

 afraid of putting six or eight hens with one male bird. 

 Some breeders put eight or ten fowls with one cock, and 

 it is possible for one male bird to run with twenty or 

 twenty-five hens and yet all the eggs turn out fertile, 

 but of course that is an exception and not the rule. 



Many pheasant breeders make a custom of pinioning 

 their birds. This I think is wrong, because should one 

 get out of the pens and a dog, fox, or poacher go after 

 it, the poor thing is bound to get captured. If the 

 pheasants have their wings cut the feathers grow again. 

 Only one wing should be clipped fairly short. 



Some people cut both wings a little, in this case they 

 will run up the wire, as they can balance themselves, but 

 if one wing is cut fairly short and the other left, when 

 they attempt to climb they over-balance and fall down. 



Stock pheasants always lay better, and as a rule a few 

 dayg earlier if the pens are situated towards the south 

 and sheltered from the north-east winds. \Vhen they are 

 in their natural state they always get along by the side 

 of a nice sunny bank, wood, or hedge-row. In this we 

 should copy nature and shelter the birds from the winds, 

 letting them have as much sun as possible. 



It used to be thought if pheasants laid from fifteen 

 to twenty-five eggs in the year that was a very fair number, 

 but they have been improved upon very much in this 

 respect during the last few years, and they will now lay 

 from thirty-five up to sixty-five. 



