1'JiO. 
THE RURAL, NSW-YORKER 
373 
THE FARMER AND THE PHEASANT. 
Is the Pheasant a Nuisance ? 
I read on page 228 a complaint made by 
D. F. D., of Marion, N. Y., against pheas¬ 
ants, which, he says, took “nearly all the 
peas out of his oats and a good shave of 
heavily tarred corn that the crows did not 
molest.” As a person who is a great ad¬ 
mirer of the pheasant and who hopes event¬ 
ually to see them rank as our foremost 
game bird, I beg to put in a word in their 
favor. I can do no better than to quote 
W. II. Tegetmeier, the author of “Poultry,” 
in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and a 
very well-known judge of poultry and pheas¬ 
ants in England. His book on pheasants 
is probably the best known of any on this 
particular subject. On page G of this book 
he says: “The value of pheasants to the 
agriculturist is scarcely sufficiently appre¬ 
ciated ; the birds destroy enormous num¬ 
bers of injurious insects—upwards of 1,200 
wireworms have been taken out of the crop 
of a pheasant; if this number was con¬ 
sumed at a single meal, the total destroyed 
must be almost incredible. There is no 
doubt that insects are preferred to grain. 
One pheasant, shot at the close of the shoot¬ 
ing season, had in its crop 726 wireworms, 
one acorn, one snail, nine berries aud three 
grains of wheat. Mr. F. Bond states that 
he took out of the crop of a pheasant 440 
grubs of the crane-fly or daddy-long-legs. 
These larvse are exceedingly destructive to 
the roots of grass on lawn or pasture. As 
another instance of their insectivorous char¬ 
acter may be mentioned the complaint of 
Waterton that they had extirpated the 
grasshoppers from Walton Park.” Of 
course, the above instances are all cited 
from England, but the English pheasant and 
1 ho Chinese ring-neck are identically the 
same bird, and it is this bird that lovers 
of true sport are trying to raise, to take 
the place of the ruffed grouse which has 
practically been exterminated by inade¬ 
quate protection. There are few birds 
which compare to the pheasant as a game 
bird; their flight is more rapid than either 
the grouse or the quail, and as a table 
delicacy they are unexcelled. I venture to 
say that if D. F. D. should kill a pheasant 
during the open season and should examine 
its crop that he would be able to bear out 
what the writers quoted above have stated. 
October would scarcely be the best month 
to look for worms in a pheasant’s crop, 
but I feel sure that the damage done to his 
oats by pheasants has been exaggerated 
in his own mind, and that the majority of 
the damage can be placed on crows and 
other grain-feeding birds and animals. I 
feel sure that it would be a great mistake 
to modify the game laws in their regard 
to pheasants. U. s. gladwin. 
New Jersey. • 
We Feed Them. 
I am glad to submit to you our esti¬ 
mate of the value of pheasants. We have 
raised them in the barnyard, and from close 
observation have found that insects and 
bugs are their natural food. For this rea¬ 
son, they are of inestimable value in the 
orchards, where they do absolutely no 
harm. We have a cornfield in close prox¬ 
imity to the orchards. There we have ob¬ 
served crows, blackbirds and doves pulling 
the corn, but we have never seen a pheas¬ 
ant. We are feeding them this Winter, 
and have posted the farm to protect them, 
not because we want a game preserve, but 
because we want these useful birds to 
make their homes in our orchards. F. c. 
Pultneyville, N. Y. 
They Destroy Peach Buds. 
A pair of pheasants did a surprising lot 
of damage to these trees during the heavy 
snow ih January. They stripped about 20 
trees clean of buds except at the ends of 
new twigs that were too frail to bear their 
weight. There can be no mistake about 
this, as I drove them off repeatedly. Trees 
are six j-ears old, and you can form some 
idea of the damage. j. l. s. 
Millington, N. J. 
Worst Enemy of Corn. 
• In regard to pheasants on page 228, I 
will say they are the worst enemy the 
corn crop has in Monroe County. They 
will dig it out hill after hill, tarred or 
untarred. Pheasants amount to nothing 
as far as potato beetles are concerned. 
When bugs are troublesome farmers use 
Paris green. R . w . K . 
Fail-port, N. Y. 
They Leave Potato Bugs. 
Let me state my experience with pheas¬ 
ants. I had a fine field of corn last Fall 
that I was obliged to leave till late. I 
drew it as I fed, and a flock of eight 
pheasants worked in it, and it would sur¬ 
prise anybody not familiar with them how 
quickly they will strip a shock of corn. 
I know they will pull tarred corn, and 
one pheasant will outdo 10 crows. I posi¬ 
tively know they will not eat potato bugs 
if there is anything else on the farm to 
eat, and when the farmers allow such laws 
as Section 9G to remain operative and al¬ 
low the sporting class to stock their farms 
and then make laws to protect a nuisance 
and elect or appoint men to enforce such 
things on them, I think it high time for 
an awakening. c. L. D. 
Pennellville, N. Y. 
Proved to be a Nuisance. 
The letter of the chief game protector, 
page 228, would be inter«sting to me, if I 
could credit his statements. We farmers 
of Genesee County have had as long ex¬ 
perience with the pheasant as any in the 
State. They were imported and raised 
by a Livingston County Club, and set at 
liberty on our farms, and there has been 
no open time for shooting ever made law¬ 
ful in our county. We are supposed to 
breed them for the benefit of town sports¬ 
men and Italians; as the last pool their 
votes, they have little fear of the game 
protectors. As to pulling corn, they are 
worse than the crow, as scarecrows have 
no terrors for them. Their work can be 
easily told, as they thrust their bill into 
the soil by the side of plant and take out 
kernel, not pulling up the stalk, as the 
crow or blackbird does. They are a gal¬ 
linaceous bird and little different from the 
common hen in their food and habits, and 
just as useful and comforting in our crops 
as the hen is in the garden. In my oat 
field of live acres three broods were raised, 
36 by actual count. A potato lot adjoined, 
but no one ever saw them bugging that 
crop. They passed through it every day 
on their way to the woods. They are 
ground fowl; I never saw them light on 
any but apple trees, where they dearly 
love to drill holes in nice red-cheeked ap¬ 
ples, apparently for the seeds. They are 
quite destructive to corn as it nears ma¬ 
turity ; I had at least 20 bushels of corn 
destroyed by them and the crows jointly 
in one field. They seem to bo friendly with 
crows, possessed with the same rascality 
perhaps, but they have driven all the 
grouse (partridge) out of this section, by 
destroying their nests and persecuting both 
old and young. They are lighters all right; 
come- into our barnyards and whip the 
domestic cock on his own dunghill. It 
seems singular that our official people take 
pattern in their annunciations from the Los 
Angeles land agents, and mining promo¬ 
ters. It is singular that sportsmen’s clubs 
can import animals and birds, breed them 
in confinement, and turn them loose on 
other people’s land, to fatten for their use 
and amusement, while those who feed them 
will be fined or imprisoned if they injure 
one. This may be constitutional, but I 
don’t believe it. They seem to think wo 
farmers are sure to follow the band wagon, 
and vote for the machine, no matter what 
they hand us out. We have one thing to 
be thankful for, our long Winter and deep 
snow has about settled the pheasant busi¬ 
ness. Where flocks of 16 to 50 could be 
seen a month ago, only a few males are 
left. w. L. B. 
Pavilion, N. Y. 
Nephritis. 
I have a cow six years old. I have 
noticed for nearly a week that the urina 
she made was quite bloody. Can you give 
cause; also a remedy, if any there be? 
New York. i. l. b. 
In our practice we find that in such 
cases when not due to the eating of acrid 
plants in wild or timber pastures there 
often is disease of the kidneys (nephritis) 
and in that event there is but slight chance 
of recovery. A test of the urine shows 
marked presence of albuminoids. Give her 
half an ounce of saw palmetto compound 
and 20 drops of fluid extract of belladonna 
leaves three times a day, and increase the 
belladonna drop by drop if found neces¬ 
sary. Better have a qualified veterinarian 
see the cow, as it is of course possible 
that there may be an ulcer or other local 
cause for the bleeding. a. s. a. 
Lame Calves. 
I have five calves, ages from six to 12 
months. Their hind legs from hock down 
to pastern joint are pulliffg up. The pas¬ 
tern joints are swollen somewhat, and the 
inside of joint has a small scab about the 
size of a dime. They have been affected 
but a few days. They arc lively and in 
good health, except this disease. What is 
the trouble, and what is the remedy? 
West Virginia. j. e. g. 
Such a condition may indicate erythema 
(mud fever or scratches which really is 
inflammation of the skin) from wading in 
wet and filth. In that case, we would 
remove the cause; wash the parts clean 
and then dry perfectly. Do not repeat 
the washing. Afterward apply as often 
as found necessary a solution of four 
ounces of Goulard’s extract, two ounces of 
glycerine, and water to make one pint. 
We fear, however, that the symptoms may 
indicate the starting of “ergotism” due to 
the eating of large quantities of ergot 
(claviceps purpurea) in hay. Ergot causes 
lack of blood circulation in the extremities 
and this ends in gangrene characterized 
by a line of sloughing just above or about 
the fetlock and sores at the heels and on 
the hoof head. Wading in slush and snow 
helps to bring on gangrene in the presence 
of the ergot mentioned. Removal of the 
cause followed by applications of the above 
described solution may prove curative if 
commenced before gangrene has occurred. 
a. s. A. 
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