The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-10-28
PHEASANT BREEDING.
Success of the States Experiment at
Winchester, Mass.

A great deal of success has attended
the work of the Hon e. A. Bracket,
chairman of the commissioners of in
land fisheries and game, in the breed
ing of Monaghan pheasants in the state
aviary at Winchester, and there seems
every prospect that they will in time
become one of our most valuable game
birds. Although the aviary was start
ed only in small way in 1898, the
birds have increased with wonderful
rapidity, and Mr.. Bracket has now
about two hundred of them, besides
large number that have escaped or
have been sent to persons anxious to
try their hands at raising them. There
has been a large and constantly in
creasing number of applications for the
birds ever since the aviary was started,
and it has, in fact, been impossible to
keep pace with the demand and at the
same time keep the desired number OF
breeding birds at the aviary. The ca
pacity of the latter has, however, been
largely increased, and it is probable
that it will soon be able to supply all
the birds wanted. Mr. Bracket has
been making experiments with the in
cubator and brooder, and he has found
that by the use of these two appliances
the percentage of chicks raised is about
ten to fifteen per cent higher than that
raised by setting under hen, which is
the method that was followed at first
He has also made some new discoveries
with regard to feeding and now has his
arrangements pretty well perfected.
With the work of breeding pheasants
well under way there is almost no limit
to the number of them that can be pro-
duced, as they are very prolific. A hen
pheasant lays from sixty to eighty eggs
in the course of the season, and under
favorable conditions will raise large
percentage of the chicks Matched out
from them. The phenomenal rap1d1ty
in 1881 imported twenty-eight birds
from China. In 1884 it was estimated
that thirteen thousand were killed in
single county in three months, while
twelve hundred dozen We're sent in
single winter to one dealer in San
Francisco. The only question is as to
whether the conditions here are suita-
BILE to raising the young birds, and
from the success that has attended Mr..
Brackets efforts there seems to be no
doubt about this. Not only have the
birds kept in confinement done we'll,
but it is known that in the last year
number of those that have escaped
have raised good-sized broods, as hens
with partly grown chickens have been
seen in number of localities in Win
chester and Medford, and other places
in the Middlesex Fells. The amount of
breeding that these birds have done,
however, is no test of the practicability
,f ,,fo pf,,t- i,,o cyyc
tematic manner, as there has been no
attempt to do this. When the birds
merely make their escape from the avn
airy they scatter in every direction, and
are distributed over a large tract of
country. In stocking place a home
for the pheasants would be made in
some spot where they would be little
interrupted, and they would be fed
here with the result that practically
| the whole number put out would be
kept in comparatively small area,
and would breed better than if kept in
confinement. A good many people are
of the opinion that the Monaghan
pheasant, on account of it's brilliant
plumage, comes from hot country and
cannot stand the rigor of our winter,
but as a matter of fact the heat Of the
summer is much harder for the birds
than the cold of winter, as they come
| from Siberia and northern Mongolia,
where the climate is much colder than
in this state. They are, in fact one of
the hardest of game birds. and VIII
stand almost any amount of cold and
bad weather.
The state aviary is constructed on
| Mr.. Brackets land in Winchester, and
consists simply of a large yard. in
closed with a high fence of wire net
| ting. AT one end of this yard are the
pens in which are kept the breeding
birds, four hens and a cock being kept
in each pen. They require almost no
| protection, as they remain out in the
toughest weather without injury, but
on one side of the pen is constructed a
small shelter, three feet WIDE two feet
high and six feet long, to give them an
| opportunity to get under cover if they
| wish to, and even more to supply them
with dry dust, in which they like to
waloW, as do hens. For the greater
part of the season they are fed on
wheat, cracked corn, scalded Indian
meal with beef scraps, barley, buck
wheat and chopped cabbage, lettuce
and grain. The hens, when in confine-
ment, do not lay in a nest, but drop
their eggs promiscuously about the
yard. These are gathered up and
placed in the incubator which Mr..
Bracket Is now substituting for the
brooding hen. Just at present, howev-
er, most of the chicks are being taken
care of by hens, and there are dozens of
GOODS scattered about in the larger
part of the Enclosure with hens in them
| and broods of pheasant chicks in differ
ent stages of development running
about. The chief difficulty in breeding
! pheasants is in raising the chicks. as
when they are young they are delicate
as regards food, and that will agree
with them, maggots being about the
( only article on which they seem to
thrive. 1t is also very dangerous for
the young birds to get chilled, and a
great. many will be lost in this way
unless great care is taken. The great
est check to the successful rearing of
4 young pheaSantS however, is the dep