Correspondence



31



too good—covering their chicks all day. I had rather an interesting experience

with Tragopans this year. I purchased two Temminck cocks about a year ago-

from Mr. Hampe in Shanghai, both wild caught birds. I mated one with

a Satyr hen which was bred at the London Zoo. She had previously had a-

Satyr cock and proved very fertile. He unfortunately died. I gave her'

a Temminck cock. She laid five eggs and four were fertile. Most

unfortunately the hen has now died. To keep the cock company I have given

him his daughter : she is nearly full grown. I wish it were easier to buy

these birds. Mr. Chapman usually imports some every year about March,,

■but most of them arrive in a poor condition though one can usually pick out

some healthy birds. The Monauls which arrive with them are usually

in the same condition. This is no fault of Mr. Chapman. It is usually the

only way one can purchase these birds, from dealers, as they are not good

breeders in captivity. I am hoping that'there are three Temmincks on the

way for me from Shanghai; if so, they are sure to arrive in first-class condition

as they are in very competent hands and not newly caught. I do not think,

there are any Temmincks in Europe except one pair in Italy and mine.


Referring to Mr. Beever’s remarks, Tragopans are certainly not so active

as many Pheasants are, but I do not think that this would lead to abnormal

fat. My Argus, Monauls, Imperials, and Mikados are all likewise rather

slow in their movements compared to, say, the Amherst and Golden. I have

never found hempseed harmful but it must, of course, be given sparingly.

I give mine a little once a day—but only a little. I give my Argus a little

sunflower seed occasionally. He loves it. Mr. Beever wishes for more

experience in rearing the rarer Pheasants. I could not refer him to anyone-

more competent than Mrs. Lambert, of Nawton, York. He knows her.

Mrs. Lambert has all my chicks in her care from the day they are hatched,

and what she does not know about it is not worth knowing. She has had most

k inds under her care and I can tell Mr. Beever and anyone else who cares to

know, that there is no royal road to success. You either have good luck

or bad luck—not often the happy medium. When once you have mastered

the feeding you are entirely in the hands of the weather. This past year

the early spring weather was appalling—rain, rain, rain ! Nests and eggs

were floating. I lost several young chicks in this way. Two Peacock

Pheasant eggs were due to hatch during one of the worst storms, both fertile

and both dead. Several eggs which Mr. Seth-Smith sent to Mrs. Lambert

for incubation were destroyed during one storm. Heart-rending, but one

has to put up with it and to look forward to better luck next year.


I will tell Mr. Beever how to get Reeves to lay and to lay fertile eggs.

Give your Reeves 5 cock only one hen. Reeves are not at all pugnacious.

I have never known or heard of a Reeves 5 cock killing his hens. I hope

Mr. Carlton Hunting has succeeded in rearing his Borneo Firebacks, as they

have a nasty habit of dying suddenly when you have every right to consider

them safe. In the course of a letter I wrote to Mr. Hunting, I asked him how

his young Bomeos were, but he did not mention them in Ms reply ! I hope

he has reared them.


I think Mr. Beever is rather pessimistic when he talks of many species

of Pheasants becoming extinct in the near future. I think all Pheasants,

that come from China, and many do come from there, are fairly safe for many

years. So many parts of that vast country are inaccessible to the naturalist-

as it abounds in brigands, etc. The home of the Bulwer’s, Imperial, and the

Edward’s are likewise death-traps. Monsieur Delacour knows all about-



