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Successful Breeding of Cheer Pheasants



morning which they pick at, and it appears to suit them, as I have

had no intestinal trouble with them. They like an occasional small

worm. They are very tame compared with the other species, and

use their mandibles to scratch up the earth. I have not noticed them

scratch with their feet yet.


17 th August .—The Cheer chicks are growing well. I had to kill

one with groggy legs, but the remaining six are fine. In colour they

are similar to the old birds, but have a white bar across the wings;

this is growing out as they develop. I am still feeding them on baked

custard for the last feed, and they appear to expect it before they

go to bed. It certainly does keep them growing.


For the first feed I give biscuit meal soaked, and midday small

wheat, with a portion of canary seed and millet, and plenty of lettuce.


7 th October .—The Cheers are going great guns ; I almost see them

growing. I understood that Cheers habitually sleep on the ground,

Grouse fashion, but all six of these chicks perch at night. This may

be due to the occasional presence of rats, otherwise the impression

that they do not perch is erroneous.


It is rather difficult to sex them yet, but one is definitely a cock,

showing the grey neck feather ; probably a second is also, four have

the appearance of hens, browner and not such long tails, the black

bars, too, are not so far apart as with the cock. They are all showing

the vermilion round the eyes, and look almost grown up.


I stopped giving them baked custard for a few nights, but they

appeared to miss it, so I have resumed this extra, and they

appreciate it.


I have had better luck with the Cheers than I had with the other

kinds, but this is probably due to the extra attention they have had.

Plenty of moving on to new ground, and so on.


When the hen commenced to lay she made a hole in the ground

sufficiently large to conceal her, less head, neck, and tail, and laid her

first four eggs in this, but as these were collected, leaving only one,

she laid the remainder, on alternate days, haphazard about the aviary,

where dead leaves were. The eggs were ordinary pullet size, putty

to greenish putty in colour and speckled at the broad end with

reddish-brown specks. Some were almost void of speckles.


Cheers are great foragers, will turn over ground to about 2 inches



