G 94 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 6, 1911. 
Now we are coming to the actual rearing of 
the young pheasants, and to the time when the 
keeper counts for everything, for a false move, 
be it through carelessness or inexperience, will 
result in losses among the young birds. He has 
to watch over his charges constantly and pro¬ 
tect them from every possible harm, for the birds 
have many enemies. Animals and birds of prey 
are waiting for them and catch and carry them 
off surprisingly quick and unexpectedly. 1 he 
keeper should at this time always have his gun 
ready and his traps set for winged and furred 
prowlers. Here in the Southern States a sharp 
lookout must be also kept for snakes, especially 
the so-called chickensnake, the coachwhip and 
the common blacksnake, but the first named snake 
is by far the most dangerous, as one of them 
will clean up a coop of young chicks at a meal. 
1 killed one on Jekyl Island which had actually 
swallowed eleven chicks, all of which were 
nearly a week old, and another one which had 
swallowed nine chicken eggs. The danger from 
this snake cannot be overestimated, and it should 
be killed wherever and whenever found. On 
the same place I have also killed blacksnakes 
and coachwhips, which had swallowed young 
pheasants and quail. 
Twenty-four hours after hatching, the chicks 
with their foster mother are taken from the nest 
and placed in a coop where they are given their 
first food. The coops should' be at least 20 
inches high in front, sloping down to 12 inches 
in the back; at least 2 feet 6 inches long and 
2 feet wide, and they should have floors 
which should be raised about 2 inches, so as not 
to touch the ground. The front of the coops 
can be made of lath, but I prefer half-inch mesh 
wire in which is left a swinging door 6 by 8 
inches to admit the old hen and several small 
openings for the ready access and egress of the 
little birds. The other three sides and the top 
of the coop are made tight, the top or roof being 
in addition covered with tar paper. During the 
nights the front is also closed by a solid board 
door. The floor of the coop is made so that it 
can be removed. For the first six weeks the 
chicks undoubtedly do much better on a floor 
than on the ground, which during the night and 
in wet weather is too cool for the young chicks 
and easily chills them—and chills are very dan¬ 
gerous, leading to various diseases. 
For the first three or four days a small run 
is kept right in front of the coop into which the 
little pheasants may go at will. This is very 
important, because if no such run were there, the 
chicks would run out, never to return, and as 
they are very hard to find in the grass, they 
usually perish. This small run is for the pur¬ 
pose of keeping the chicks near their foster- 
mother, so they will learn and understand her 
cluck, which of course is entirely different from 
that of a hen pheasant, and the little birds have 
to get used to it. So the run or inclosure should 
never be forgotten or neglected, as without it 
a keeper will surely come to grief. 
The food of the young pheasants must be 
looked after with care. For the first twenty- 
four hours after hatching, as mentioned before, 
they must not be fed, as the yolks of the eggs 
from which they were hatched will fully sustain 
them for that length of i‘me. For two or three 
days they are fed on the whites of eggs, which 
must be chopped very fine. The little birds 
should be fed often, say six or eight times dur¬ 
ing the day, but very sparingly. By this I do 
not mean to say to starve them; no, give them 
ail they want to eat, but no more. It not only 
will save food, but many birds also, because 
overfeeding is not good for old birds, much 
less for young ones, and the practice of over¬ 
feeding will cause the death of many chicks. 
While feeding the young birds their mothers 
should be fed also, but they need only two feeds 
a day, morning and night. Grain and water 
should be given them, but the water should be 
left only long enough to give the old hens a 
drink. It should never be left standing in front 
of the coop or inside of it, because the little 
birds would get into it and drink it, which in 
their early days is most injurious to them. 
After the third day the young brood can be fed 
on Spratt’s patent game meal or chick meal. 
This is one of the very best foods which can 
be given young pheasants, as it is easily diges¬ 
ted by them. I always use this meal without 
interruption until the brood is six weeks old. 
After the brood is a week old, the chick meal 
should be mixed with a little bone meal, 
meat crissel, a little cardiac powder and finely 
chopped eggs, both the white and the yolk; a 
little fine chopped clover and garlic should also 
be added, which will be relished very much by 
your charges. The chick meal should be moist¬ 
ened with hot water only enough to soften it, 
but not to make it sloppy. Feeding in this way, 
the birds can go entirely without water, until 
they are at least one month, old, after which 
time I give them water to drink, but sparingly. 
A great many keepers feed their broods on 
custard, whey, potcheese, cornbread, etc., but, as 
I said before, I have never found anything so 
good as Spratt’s patent game and chick meal, 
unless it is cut eggs, of which the birds are very 
fond—or maggots—but to procure maggots is a 
most unwholesome proceeding. 
The food for the first week can be put in the 
door of the coop where the birds will pick it 
up without trouble, but later should be put right 
on the ground, so as to afford them exercise. If 
the coops have an adjustable bottom, they should 
be cleaned every morning and some white sand 
be put in it, but if there is no bottom, the coops 
should or rather must be moved at. least once a 
day to fresh ground. This is very important 
and must not be neglected. The hens shou’d 
be sprinkled once or twice a week with insect 
powder to keep them free from lice. 
By the time the birds are six weeks old they 
are well feathered and can fly. Now one can 
commence to feed them grain, always cracked, 
and also supply them with drinking water. They 
are well out of danger now, unless the "gapes” 
or some other disease attacks them, but with 
care and attention to the smallest detai’s the 
chances are that all will be well. 
When nearly grown the pheasants must be 
penned up, either in inclosed or open pens. 
From here later on they may be transferred to 
the covert, where during the shoting season they 
will be the delight of the sportsmen. 
In conclusion I want to say that the follow¬ 
ing pheasants are best adapted to our American 
game preserves: First, the common pheasant 
(Phasianus colchicus) ; second, the Chinese 
pheasant (Phasianus torquatus ) ; third, the 
Prince of Wales pheasant (Phasianus princi¬ 
palis) ; and fourth, the Reeves pheasant (Phasi¬ 
anus reevesi). Charles Brinckmann. 
Nova Scotia Guides’ Association. 
Annapolis Royal, N. S., April 25 .—Editor 
Forest and Stream: In your interesting account 
of the recent Sportsmen’s Show in New York, 
this association is twice referred to as "of Hali¬ 
fax, N. S.” The correction of this very unim¬ 
portant mistake offers me an opportunity to in¬ 
form your readers in regard to a body of men 
who are having a most salutary influence on 
sport in Nova Scotia and are likely to have even 
more in the future. 
The Province finds herself in a somewhat 
curious position in regard to game and fish pro¬ 
tection, owing first to a lack of sufficient funds 
to apply to this object; and second, because the 
inland fisheries are administered not by the Pro¬ 
vincial Government in Halifax—as are fortu¬ 
nately the game laws—but from Ottawa. The 
game law, as it now stands, is a fairly good one, 
though of course no law can please everybody, 
and is pretty well kept. Nevertheless, there is 
a lot of illegal killing, especially of moose and 
ruffed grouse, and the limited funds at the dis¬ 
posal of the excellent and fair-minded chief 
game commissioner, Mr. Knight, do not allow of 
anywhere near a proper policing of the woods, 
especially in close season. 
As to the inland fisheries they are practically 
not administered at all, except as to certain sal¬ 
mon rivers, and that very inadequately. All the 
trout stocking that took place year before last— 
latest report still to come—was 90,000, of which 
the greatest water system in the Province, the 
Liverpool, received nil. Anyone may take as 
many fish as he pleases with no danger of being 
punished, the number of fines for the polluting 
of streams, catching out of season, etc., being 
ludicrously small. A protest to the nearest fish 
warden is most likely not even replied to—mine 
at least was not. Natives bring home hundreds 
of trout and boast of it in the public press with¬ 
out even a protest, let alone a movement on the 
part of the authorities. In a word, so far as 
the fishing laws are concerned, a state of al¬ 
most complete anarchy obtains in Nova Scotia. 
A movement is on foot, started by this associa¬ 
tion, to have the Province take over, so far as 
is legal, the inland fisheries from the Dominion 
Government, but the Nova Scotia Government 
exhibits a complete apathy on the subject; “they 
have their hands full already,” it is said. They 
are also ignorant of the importance of the fish¬ 
eries, and do not know that the far-famed-—and 
justly so—trout fishing of the Province, that has 
brought thither so many people and good money, 
is surely and inevitably deteriorating. 
Under such circumstances, since our Govern¬ 
ment will not help us properly, the importance 
of an association composed of the guides of the 
country, trained to ideas and methods of true 
sportsmanship and economy, and with a clear 
view of their own interests, can easily be seen. 
Our members may not all be angels, but they are 
a fine class of fellows, and they do not allow a 
sportsman to catch as many trout as he likes. 
When he has boated his twentieth fish, there are 
few guides in our band who will net another 
one for him, but plenty who will flatly refuse 
to do so. 
The Guides’ Association, as at present organ¬ 
ized, exists only in the western half of the 
Province. Plalifax county, and all east of it, 
have as yet no representatives, though we are 
