Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-09-18
PHEASANT FARMING.
a New Jersey Farm Where the
Birds Are Raised.
Iney Arc Supplied to SPORTING c,,h.
throughout the United States
-Particulars of the
Business.

N. j., an Englishman, Werner de Cu;se
mas for the last five years been engaged
IN pheasant farming, and has made of
ia decided success. The introduction
OF Dirds or animals of one country into
announcer has not been a blessing to the
new country. The English sparrow is
not looked upon as an unalloved bless-
Ing by the people of this continent
Australia and New Zealand have sn.rt
unions IN trying to exterminate the
imported rabbit. A sugar planter in
the Island of Jamaica a few years ago
imported the mongoose to kill the ra Ia
that played havoc in the sugar cane
neids. The rat had misc hievous wav
OF gong from cane to cane, nibblinp
them, and as soon as the cane dropped
1t would run away frightened. The
cane was then useless to the planter
| The mongoose found that it was much
easier for him to make living ON the
fowls, turkeys, geese and, in fact. all
ground game of the island than it was
to hunt the rats. He therefore took up
the easier role of life. The conse-
quence of this has been that whereas
the supply of fowl flesh was a cheap
commodity in Jamaica, it has so risen in
value that it now commands SO high a
price that only the rich can have at their
tables what was formerly the food of
the poor.
The introduction of the pheasant.
1t Is hoped, however, will prove an ex.
ception to the rule. And from all an
Pearances this will certinly be the case.
Mr.. de Guise has some so acres inclosed
with wire netting, and has already
raised thousands of birds. He finds the
climate agrees with them excellently.
The bird that Mr.. de Guise is raising is
the common English pheasant. The
cock pheasant is long tailed, with a
plumage that is made up of every color,
To the uninitiated shooter it would
seem the easiest thing in the world to
grass" one of these birds. But fiying
rocketer as he makes his way upward
between the boughs of tree in a wood
or copse is by no means an easy bird to
hit. The female is dingy bird in
plumage as compared with her mate,
and few ever think of shooting at her.
She is wanted to lay the eggs for the
next season, and a man in England who
brings down one of these birds is not
likely to get an invitation to shoot the
coverts the following year.
The introduction of these birds, at
least among the large preserves that
arc now being formed in New York
state, and in fact in other states, is a
matter of considerable interest. Tho
ruffled grouse is becoming almost ex-
tinct, and will soon be classed with the
passenger pigeon. Men who have large
tracts of land where they want to go
shooting in the autumn find that their
Investments are almost worthless.
They are putting in English pheasants.
From Maine to the Delaware there
seems no finer country for the acclima-
tization Of this bird. The scrub oak
gives the bird a magnificent scratching
ground during the day, and wherever
there Is underbrush they are sure to do |
well. For a roosting place the copses
and woods cannot be surpassed. In
breeding this bird, the best way is to
collect the eggs and place them under
good old hens kept in open grass fields,
the hens confined in coops while the
young are allowed to wander about.
They will always run to shelter under
their foster mother when a hawk APP
pears. The food for the young ones
should be common boiled grain. biscuit,
and if possible the eggs of the common
mt. Nothing thrives them better than
that. When able to look after them
selves they should be turned out in the
coverts. They must be fed morning and
evening, but they will soon be able to
pick up enough provender for them
selves. That Is about the month of
June. the young having been Matched
in the later weeks Of March.
The apparently tame fowl soon be-
comes as game bird as man wants to
walk through his woodlands, he will
wee the so-called tame bird running as
rapidly as any rabbit or hare, or whir-
ring away on the wing at his approch.
The bird is home-stayer, as a rule, but,
speaking from the English point of
view, there is no finer bird that rises
out of an old hazel hedge than a cock
pheasant who has gone out to forage in
ands where he has no right to be. AS
The setter tumbles into one Of those
great big hedges ten yards wide, made
If hazel bush and old hawthorn, that
lave stood there for centuries, looking
only for the rabbit or the hare, and
,ends one of these great birds, just
. ass of beautiful color, whirring
,cross the autumn stubble field of an
English landscape. one feels almost
orry that he has dropped in the fall ,
ows. The bird roosts always on the I
over boughs of trees, and this is taken
advantage of by poachers, who will kill {
,ither cock or hen. shooting them as I
hey sit. These are the men who do the {
,reatest harm. At present MIR. de ,
Iuise says he has little trouble with
hem. He has had large number OF
riders already from owners of estates
md sporting clubs, and has orders to I
upply eggs and birds not only in this
tate, but even as far north as Canada
md as far south as Georgia. l
Before long the bird will be much l
more common than he is nowadays, but I
le will always be luxury. as in his ma /
i've country.--N. Y. Tribune. I
The story comes that the good peo- 4
lie of Randolph, Mass, resent the in