26 E. H. Lewis—Breeding of Cabot's Tragopan Pheasant


sturdy looking dark youngsters were found with almost fully developed

wings. The next day we made the hen leave the nest, and we carefully

removed the little fellows down to a darkened corner of the pen, the

hen, very much disturbed, fighting our feet; but the moment we moved

away from the chicks she at once went directly to them and had them

all safely tucked away under her before you could count ten. They

stayed in this corner for the first day and night, but the second night

the hen called them to her on a perch about 4 feet from the ground, the

chicks flying to a lower perch first. In a month they were perching in

the tree, some under her and some alongside. For the first four weeks

of their existence they seemed to be constantly under the hen. If they

left her for a few moments her sweet and low call soon had them back

under her in safety and warmth.


We fed them chopped hard-boiled egg, with finely chopped lettuce,

for the first week, then added some “ Spratts’ ” No. 12 Pheasant meal,

moistened with warm water. In a month was added a fine chick grain

and the egg gradually reduced until it had disappeared. A little fruit

was still being fed and the youngsters got their share of it. No insect

feed was given except what they got naturally from the green feed

growing in their pen, but a box of good poultry growing mash was

before them after the first two weeks and they ate a considerable

quantity of it.


The male bird had remained in the pen all the time, but did not

bother nor, apparently, take much interest in them. For two weeks,

however, we fed him first, and then fed the hen and chicks separately

a little distance off. Soon he commenced to notice them, and would

call when he discovered something good to eat. From then on we fed

them all together, and never once did we observe him act in any way

as though he resented their presence. He would call and warn them

exactly like the hen, but at no time would he brood them.


It has been delightful to watch this brood grow up to maturity,

and we feel that the mother hen is entitled to the entire credit on account

of her careful and constant brooding. The hen—and the male bird,

too—never seem to “ step ” around with the chicks, rather they glide

over the ground slowly and carefully, with the result that the little ones

are not knocked about and trodden upon as often happens when raising



