Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-22

How They Are Artificfnlly Reared in
Great Numbers In England.

Great Numbers In England.
From the London Sketch.
October is on us again The pheasant
! is on the wing. and powder and shot ere
in the air. Where do the pheasants come
from? Few people can tell you that.
(, There is vague idea that the birds are
creatures of nature pure and simple. On
| the contrary, an enormous number of them
| are reared by the artificial processes Of
the pheasant farmer. One of the largest
| pheasant farms in the kingdom is that of
| Messrs. Dwight, Great Bcrkhampstead, while
! another is Mr.. Montagu Robb's, at Peters
field, on the Hampshire Downs The first
essential for pheasant rearing is plenty of
space. Thus, for instance, Mr.. Robbs farm
| covers an area of about 400 acres which
| is divided into large paddockS, with six
| foot Wire netting; there is twelve
| miles of netting on the estate, and if the
| wire pens. which are spread in orderly
| ranges over the hilsides, were placed end
/, to end, they would form lire about seven
! miles long. IF confined to one spot the
! birds stale" the ground and disease makes
its appearance. Hence, whether at large
| in the Enclosures or imprisoned il the pens
! they have to be constantly moved. and
| the ground allowed to rest. AS they pen
! between 5000 and 1909 pheasants every
season Petersteld and Liphook in family
| parties Of six, one cock to five hens, and
! as each pen. thirty or forty feet long, made
| in nine-foot sections, has to be moved once
| u week to cover at least one-third of fresh
ground, you can form an idea of the labor
| ent2iied by moving alone
| In the early spring the stock is distrib-
uted thus in the pens. All that is re-
| Quireu OF the hen pheaSantS is that they
shall lay injustriously; improvidence in the
matter OF family is encouraged by remov
ing the eggs from the run they laid,
Mhence the birds, we may suppose, lose
count, and, instead of depositing modest
dozen or eighteen, lay as many forty
| eggs in the season. The business divides
itself naturally into two distinct parts.
| The great demand for pheaSaEts' eggs by
the owners of shootings creates the. part
| we will deal with first. The packing is
done by the keepers wives, who paid
by the thousand eggs, and, it may be add
ed. there are always more applicants for
| this work than there are vacancies. Eggs
range in price from SD per hundred in the
| earlier weeks of the season to half that
| price in June, the anxiety of shooting men
| to have we'll grown birds ready for the
autumn explaining the difference to a large
extent. Broadly speaking, the birds lay
from mfd-April until the middle of June;
from that time the supply falls off rapidly,
! but few eggs found SO late as mid
September. Though such an immense
number are sent away, several thousands
are retained for breeding purposes. the
stock is practically rep!enisked each year.
The nursery operations at Messrs.
| DwiSht's are intrusted to a staff of $50
trustworthy domestic hens; the laying
D;TuS are kept IN a nuSe collectlon OF pens,
each Enclosure being about twenty-four
| feet square. with barred sides nine feet
high, the whole covering several acres of
ground. The birds and their eggs have
to be carefully watched and guarded, sew
| eral huts, locally known as bird houses"
being placed in the field. In these the
watchers take up their quarters, and sew
| eral dogs are also chained in the field some
in rather uncommon manner On the
| outside of the pens a strong wire rope is
stretched from one end of the field to the
other other On this is loose-fitting ring. TO
which the dog is fastened. Thus he is
| able to make his way from point to point
and woe betide the poacher, be he two.
legged or four. that attempts to SCALE or
! creep the fence.
The eggs. which are collected twice a
day, are of a creamy brown color, and the
| snells are much thicker than one would
expect. to judge from their appearance.
FOR Matching purposes they are, in "clut CHI
es OF nineteen, placed beneath broody
hens. who occupy tiers of boxes in a large
roonay barn. All the birds must be taken
from the nest by hand once in twenty-four
hours. The early morning is the time
selected for this purpose, and at $50 a m
every day during the month of MAY a
row of boys, armed with cluckers," may
be seen carrying the reluctant hens to
| breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one
combined meal. I say reluctant hens. he
cause your good hroody hen never appears
wi,Hns 10 leave her previous eggs. but in
| various ways expresses her Indignation AT
| belng disturbed, now in shriIl fa!setto
| or with a hoarse ''Cluck chuck cIIckr,
| TO loose all these enraged females together
| would never do, for when they We're mixed
| the wisest man in the world could not tell
| which was which, neither could he catch
| them within week. So stakes are driven
| In the ground; attached to these are loose
, fitting loops of,String. each with a slim knot
| at the end, by which the hers are secured
| and within the limits of their string they
can do as they like for fifteen minutes
| When the young birds are Matched they
are taken to a large mea dow in which long
| lanes have been Tnown either in the grass
or clover. Here, at intervals of about
| twenty feet, are placed some 600 coops To
| these the foster mothers are tethered: their
| experience during the Matching time has
| accustomed them to the stake, and they
| generally settle quietly down with their
| charges. The latter soon make themselves
| az nome. using the long, unknown grass for
| shelter from the midday sun, and the coop
| and foster mother for the same purpose
| when 1t rains OF course, they are atten-
| lively watched and cherished by the bird
men, who reside in the field. and feed their
| charges three of four times a day. About
the end Of August they are ready for sale
and removal to the covert. Here they will
grow VII still, and when the leaves are
| turning yellow and the noise Of the sport
ing gun is heard in the land they will take
| to their wings and fly as high and with-as
much ski their wild brothers. The
most experienced sportsman cannot tell the
| difference; he will always find there is
plenty of room to miss them.