PHEASANT REARING 
Picking up eggs . — When looking for eggs laid by wild birds, if a hen is 
found on a nest she should be left alone, and the keeper should return 
again at a later hour; if the bird is still there, and appears to be sitting, 
the man should come again early the next morning and take the eggs 
when she leaves to feed. She will then probably make another nest, and 
lay again elsewhere. 
If however she is only laying, the keeper may by careful management 
induce the hen to keep on laying, and thus obtain a number of eggs, some- 
times as many as forty. If there is only one egg it should be taken, and an 
artificial one left in its place. This should be done every morning, the 
nest being revisited, the newly laid egg taken away, the artificial one 
always being left, and this game carried on until no more eggs are laid. 
If there are several eggs in the nest when it is found they should all 
be taken, three or four artificial ones being left in their place, and each 
morning, when the nest is revisited, the newly -laid egg should be taken 
away. There may, however, be no artificial eggs at hand to place in the 
nest, and in this case some of those already in it must be left there. 
These should all be marked with the date of finding them, and it is well to 
add some secret mark in invisible ink, so that the eggs can be sworn 
to in case they are stolen, and recovered. The next morning the newly - 
laid egg must be marked with the date of that day, and one of the earlier 
ones taken away, this process being repeated every day, the egg with 
the earliest date being always brought away. In this way no egg will be 
left too long before it is placed under a hen to be hatched. If two pheasants 
are found to be laying in the same nest it is better to bring all the eggs 
away at once, when both birds will probably lay again elsewhere. 
A very useful aid to keepers when gathering eggs is the “ Foster mother 
egg-belt,” supplied by the well-known game food manufacturers, Gilbert- 
son and Page, Hertford. This has a number of pockets containing cotton 
wool in which eggs can be placed without fear of breakage, and which are 
kept warm if partially incubated. 
Laying pens . — ^If it is desired to obtain the required eggs for the rear- 
ing field from hens placed in pens, care should be taken to catch up 
the requisite birds some time before the laying season commences, that 
they may get over their wildness, or few eggs will prove fertile. Where 
sufficient accommodation is available it is preferable to take up the 
hens in October, before they have been shot at, and before the memories 
of the amenities of the rearing field have passed out of mind. There is 
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