Y. Malisoux—The O.P.S. Must Save Many Rare Pheasants 107



himself his chances of success are smaller than those of the big orni¬

thological collector. So he risks not only the loss of his money, but far

worse, he is wasting invaluable pairs which cannot be easily replaced.


Rearing


Here the small amateur has all the advantage. Rearing is before

everything else a question of care, multiple and minute, if success

is to be complete and certain, which is required for all rare species,

but this precision is not compatible with a large number of birds.

The competence and goodwill of the person looking after them is not

in question, but the fact is that it is absolutely impossible to obtain

complete success with, for example, six chicks of a new species if one

has to find a suitable feeding formula and at the same time look after

a large collection. We have seen that it is generally the large collector

who possesses the rarer species. The following two points are the

reasons why the large collector and the rearing specialist cannot be

confounded in the raising of young Pheasants :—


(1) Up to two months it is necessary to avoid contamination .—The

question of hygiene in connection with the hen. This makes rearing

impossible with a hen in a garden or field. The hen brooding the chicks

and the ground can be relatively clean but never absolutely, or in

any case you cannot be certain that they will not contaminate the

chicks. Hens and ground might be inoffensive to species which one

already possesses but not to a new, more delicate, or simply different

species.


(2) It is necessary to feed the chicles in a suitable manner. —Young

Pheasants which run about a garden can become contaminated. On

the other hand they feed in a satisfactory and appropriate manner.

They choose the food which suits them best. If they are shut in an

hygienic cage and brooder, it is not so. Certainly the causes of infection

are eliminated but the choice of food is suppressed.


It is therefore necessary that the breeder himself finds them a

complete alimentary formula, and this should be infinitely varied.

Altogether young Pheasants can be divided into three cate¬

gories :—


(1) Those that can digest any food that is more or less suitable

and which can stand being fed regular meals.



