44 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
BEAU BRUMMELS OF THE POULTRY WORLD 
Add the Touch of Animate Life that Completes the Picture of Perfect Grounds—Pheasants, 
Peacocks and Ornamental Waterfowl—Their Raising, Care and Characteristics 
E. I. FARRINGTON 
African geese with their 
young. In the back¬ 
ground, two Canadas 
Pelicans are highly 
amusing and interest¬ 
ing birds, easily tamed 
A young Egyptian 
goose, somewhat pug¬ 
nacious but popular 
F LOWERS, trees and 
shrubs have their place 
in making the home 
grounds attractive, but the pic¬ 
ture is never wholly complete 
unless something animated is 
included among the decorative 
features. A bit of life lends 
much to any landscape, and 
even a few bantams roving over 
a broad lawn will add the fin¬ 
ishing touch to Nature’s can¬ 
vas. 
There is good reason for the 
growing appreciation of orna¬ 
mental birds, both those that 
live on the land and those that 
seek the water, and that the 
demand for these decorative 
birds is fast increasing is indi¬ 
cated by the number of great 
breeding farms which are be¬ 
ing established all over the 
country. 
The Best Pheasants 
Doubtless pheasants 
first in the list, and 
it is not surprising 
that they have be- 
c o m e exceedingly 
popular, for the 
male representa¬ 
tives, at least, of all 
the different breeds 
are wond e r f u 11 y 
handsome. Several 
kinds are compar¬ 
atively easy to care 
for, thrive in captiv¬ 
ity and may be com¬ 
fortably accommo¬ 
dated in smaller and 
less expensive 
houses than are re¬ 
quired for common 
hens, although they 
need larger yards. 
Ring-necks are bred 
in the largest num¬ 
bers, and as thou¬ 
sands of them are lib¬ 
erated each year, they 
have become very 
c o m m o n in some 
parts of the country. 
The other pheas¬ 
ants commonly raised 
are the goldens and 
the silvers, both strik¬ 
ingly beautiful. The 
golden pheasant is 
smaller than most of 
the others, but mar¬ 
velously marked and 
colored; indeed, it is 
one of the most bril¬ 
liant birds known to 
man, and it is a for¬ 
tunate fact that this 
variety is among the 
best for the amateur 
and the small aviarv 
come 
On large estates the peacock reaches his greatest value as an ornamental 
bird of remarkable beauty and long life 
Golden pheasants lay only about 
two dozen eggs a year, while 
silvers will lay between thirty 
and forty, and ring - necks, 
which are the most prolific of 
all, up to sixty. 
Although silver pheasants 
never become as tame as the 
goldens and have a rather dis¬ 
agreeable cry, often heard 
about the time the milkman 
calls, they are exceedingly 
hardy, very easy to raise and 
are greatly admired, the upper 
part of the body being white, 
delicately marked with black 
stripes, while the tails are 2 ! 
long. 
Two other varieties likely to 
be coveted and eventually pur¬ 
chased are the Reeves and Lady 
Amhersts. The Reeves pheas¬ 
ant is the largest member of 
the true pheasant family and 
impressively beautiful, espe¬ 
cially when the tail is in good 
order. Tails 4' long are not 
unusual, and the late 
Homer Davenport 
once showed a 
pheasant of this 
breed which pos¬ 
sessed a tail meas¬ 
uring 6' 1". A Reeves 
pheasant in flight, 
darting forward at 
extreme speed and 
then coming to a 
startlingly sudden 
stop, is a wonderful 
sight. Reeves pheas¬ 
ants lay about twen¬ 
ty eggs a season. 
Lady Amhersts 
Like the Reeves 
pheasant, the Lady 
Amherst comes from 
China and is very 
•beautiful to look 
upon. Indeed, few 
birds in existence 
have more wonder¬ 
fully colored plu¬ 
mage, and it is very 
difficult to tell the 
young birds from 
those of the golden 
variety, unless one 
knows that the little 
Lady Amhersts have 
blue legs, while those 
of the diminutive 
goldens are yellow or 
sage green. Lady Am¬ 
herst pheasants are 
somewhat larger than 
goldens, and yet 
weigh only from 2 tO' 
2jA pounds. They 
are about as easy to 
raise as the more com- 
mnn l/inn 
