CHAPTER VIL 



PHEASANTS: Food. Feeding and General Management. 



THE nature of the food to be given, and the manner of 

 feeding pheasants from the time they break the shell until 

 they are ready for shot, is one of the most complex matters 

 in the whole system of game-preserving. It has been one 

 which has vexed the minds of keepers, preservers, and 

 experts ever since hand-rearing became a general practice, 

 and is one which is likely to remain a matter for conflicting 

 opinion for a long time to come. Numberless systems of 

 feeding have been worked out and put into practice with 

 varying success. It would, however, be a profitless task 

 to attempt to discuss them in anything approaching detail, 

 and it must suffice for our purpose to work out one main 

 system of feeding and treatment, it being conceded that 

 local circumstances may warrant its modification in some 

 respects. 



In connection with the feeding of pheasants it must 

 always be remembered that the soil upon which they are 

 reared, and the conditions of their natural environment, 

 are bound to exert a very pronounced influence for good or 

 for evil 4ipon the health and stamina of the stock. With- 

 out a due appreciation of how these influences react upon 

 the birds from the shell onwards it is impossible for the 

 preserver to obtain adequate ultimate results from his 

 hatching operations. 



