176 



THE GAME BREEDER 



sects that are injurious to the corn crop 

 are destroyed by the pheasant, and the 

 pheasant will not attack the grain or ear 

 of the corn until late in the season, after 

 insect food is scarce. 



The professors of agronomy of our 

 agricultural colleges state that the chinch 

 bug, which destroys $100,000,000 worth 

 of wheat annually, is hunted and eaten 

 by the pheasant, both summer and win- 

 ter; also the bugs and insects which de- 

 stroy the foliage, especially of ground 

 plants and crops of the farmer. 



The difference between the pheasant 

 and the ordinary fowl in eating insects is 

 largely that the pheasant is continually 

 hunting for the eggs and larvae of in- 

 sects. In the grain fields and meadows 

 the insect eggs are usually laid on the 

 under side of the leaves of the plants. 

 The pheasant as it passes through the 

 growing grain keeps its head near the 

 ground and turns one eye up and the 

 other down so it sees the larvae and 

 eggs on the under side of the leaf. It 

 takes hold of the leaf with its bill, throws 

 its head up and clears the plant of the 

 eggs and larvae without injuring the 

 leaf ; thus in one stroke destroys four or 

 five or possibly one hundred embryo in- 

 sects and in a single meal often destroys 

 many thousands of insects in the egg and 

 larvae form, which, when matured, 

 would have destroyed a large amount of 

 crops, and furnish enough bug food for 

 a turkey gobbler for several years. The 

 pheasant destroys the pests before they 

 do any damage to the farmer's crops ; the 

 turkey and common poultry afterward. 



Pheasants are fond of grasshopper 

 eggs, especially those of the locust, that 

 deposit their eggs in the earth in dry 

 places, and also larvae of any insect that 

 may be found there. Pheasants in cap- 

 tivity have been known to dig up light 

 ground, where there were many larvae, 

 so that they dug under the fence four 

 inches in the ground. On examination 

 this ground was found to contain insect 

 eggs and larvae of insects. 



The pheasant chooses the dandeHon 

 and the bulbs of buttercups as two of its 

 greatest vegetable delicacies. He eats 

 but comparatively few buds from bushes 

 and trees, excepting in severe winters. 



In this way he is quite different from the 

 grouse. Of the grasses he has liking for 

 white and red clover, alfalfa and red and 

 yellow sorrel, but when there are plenty 

 of dandelions and buttercups he will 

 make those his principal vegetable diet. 

 In the winter time pheasants can be 

 seen turning over forest leaves and ex- 

 amining them and picking off the larvae 

 of different tree insects deposited on the 

 under side of the leaves ; also picking 

 over the top soil around bushes and trees 

 for the bugs and larvae. 



Along the streams and wet grounds 

 the pheasant finds many snails and crus- 

 tations for food. The pheasant being a 

 terrestrial, it eats mostly from the 

 'ground or within twelve inches of same 

 when food is abundant, and seldom eats 

 grain, such as wheat, oats and barley, 

 until late in the season, after it has been 

 harvested and threshed, when insect life 

 is scarce. It cleans up the grain stubble 

 fields, being especially fond of buck- 

 wheat, millet and common ordinary 

 wheat, and when hungry will eat most 

 any kind of grain, including beans. 



Tegetmeier says: "The value of 

 pheasants to the agriculturist is scarcely 

 sufficiently appreciated ; the birds destroy 

 enormous numbers of injurious insects — ■ 

 upwards of 1,200 wire worms have been 

 taken out of the crop of a pheasant; if 

 this number was consumed in a single 

 meal the total destroyed must be almost 

 incredible. 



"There is no doubt that insects are 

 preferred to grain. One pheasant shot 

 at the close of the shooting season had 

 in his crop 726 wire worms, one acorn, 

 one snail, 9 berries and 3 grains of wheat. 

 From the crop of another pheasant 440 

 grubs of the crane fly and the daddy- 

 longlegs — these larvae are exceedingly 

 destructive to luscous vegetables. From 

 the crop of another pheasant 48 snail 

 shells were taken. Eight young vipers, 

 weighing about one-fourth of an ounce 

 each, were taken from the crop of a nen 

 pheasant. 



"An instance is reported in the Lon- 

 don field of a pheasant which, when 

 found, had swallowed about six inches 

 of a viper, whilst about eight inches of 

 the tail part of the reptile was protrud- 



