80 



THE GAME BREEDER 



If these requisities, together with a 

 suitable water supply, are provided the 

 fish will thrive. 



The accompanying drawings explain 

 the types of intake and drainage devices 



be varied to meet the conditions en- 

 countered, and be constructed of either 

 wood or concrete. The latter material 

 is shown in the illustrations, and is the 

 most durable, but wood will be equally 



which have proved effective. These may as satisfactory while it lasts. 



REMARKABLE PHEASANT BREEDING. 



By Henry B. Bigelow. 



[The following story about pheasant breeding should interest our readers much. The 

 pheasants, reared at a cost of 35 cents each, easily can be sold for $3.00 each. Our shooting 

 readers will be interested in the comment on the pheasant as a sporting bird and the covers 

 where it thrives in Massachusetts. 



This article is reprinted from The Game Breeder for April, 1914. Many new readers 

 will be interested in it and it is an excellent sample of the kind of stories we believe our read- 

 ers want. We shall give prizes of live quail and other game birds to those who send us the 

 best stories during the year. — Editor.] 



My experience with pheasants has been 

 as follows: The matter of chief interest, 

 perhaps, is the cost. In my case there 

 was no question of hiring a game-keeper ; 

 the pheasants had to take their chances 

 with the other poultry, and neither I nor 

 my man knew anything about handling 

 them. 



I bought three hens and a cock (Ring- 

 necks) from which I had about 120 eggs ; 

 then by purchase and from friends I 

 secured enough more eggs to bring the 

 total to two hundred and twenty-two 

 eggs. These we set under ordinary hens 

 during May and the first part of June. 

 The chicks hatched before June 1 all 

 died of cold; of the others we raised 

 sixty-five to the liberating age, five 

 weeks, i. e., about twenty-five per cent. 

 I have done worse with hens! 



\s to food. I bought Spratts little book 

 on pheasant breeding (25 cents) and 

 followed directions, but our success was 

 due chiefly to insect food. Early in the 

 game, we found that the chicks would eat 

 gypsy moth caterpillars and after that 

 we fed them largely with. the result that 

 there was practically no death rate, so 

 long as the caterpillars and pupae were 

 available. Incidentally, the chicks cleared 

 the birches in their yard of caterpillars. 



When five , weeks old the broods were 

 taken out with their foster mothers to 

 places here and there, the old hens still 



in their coops. I had supposed we would 

 have to feed the pheasants for some 

 time ; but to my surprise the young birds 

 were self-supporting almost at once, 

 feeding in the rye and asparagus fields. 

 After this they were fed no more, but 

 shifted for themselves. 



The total cost, excluding the price of 

 the stock birds and wire netting, was 

 thirty-five cents per bird Hberated; in- 

 cluding the^e items, about severity cents. 

 But, of course, I need buy no more stock 

 birds or netting for this year. 



Now that we have our pheasants .at 

 liberty, the question is, was it worth 

 while ? This hinges on whether the pheas- 

 ant is a good game bird or not. To me 

 it is of no interest whether or not driven 

 pheasants are hard shooting as I do not 

 drive. But I can say, without hesitation, 

 that the pheasant was a great addition 

 to my game bag. He can not, of course, 

 be compared with the ruffed grouse, but 

 the latter is in a clrss by himself. 



The Ring-necked, pheasant is not a 

 woodland bird but a marsh bird in his 

 native country; and it is in rough river 

 meadows where he can make incursions 

 for food into farm land, that he is at 

 his best here. On our wet meadows, a 

 pheasant or a snipe is about equally 

 likely to jump from before your pointing 

 dog. When the "bottom" is open he runs 

 but in dense cover (i. e., tall thick matted 



