The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-07
raised under hens which is the method

raised under hens, which is the method
commonly used.
They are very prolific. A hen pheasant
lays from sixty to eighty eggs in me
course Of the season, and under favorable
conditions will raise a large percentage
of chicks Matched out of them. The phe-
nomenal rapidly of heir increase Is
shown by Judge Denny of Oregon, wno,
In 1881, imported twenty-eight birds from
China In 1884 il was estimated that 1900
were killed IN a single county, while lAO
more were sent in single winter to one
dealer in San Francisco. The only ques-
ton is as to whether the conditions uere
are suitable 40 raising the young birds,
and from the success attended, there seems
10 be no doubt about this. Not only have
the birds kept in confinement done well,
but Il is known that in the last year
number of those that escaped have raised
good-sized broods as mems with parity
grown chicks have been seen IN num-
her of localities in Winchester, Medford
and other places in the Middlesex fells.
The amount of breeding that these birds
have done, however, as no test of the prsc-
ticability of stocking sections of country
IN a systematic manner, as there has been
no attempt to do this. When the birds
merely make their escape from the avlary,
they scatter in every direction and are
distributed over q large tract of country
In stocking a place, home for the pleas
ants would be made in some spot where
they would be little Interrupted and they
would be fed there, with the result that
practically the whole number put out
would be kept in a 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 its brilliant plumage, comes from hot
country and can moi 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 will stand al
most any amount of cold and bad weather.
They can remain out in the toughest OF
weather without injury, but it is advisable
10 construct on one side a small shelter,
say three feet wide, two feet high and six
feet long, to give them an opportunity TO
get under cover when they wish to, and
even more TO supply them with dry dust,
in which they Ike to wallow, as do hens.
For the greater part of the season they
can he fed on wheat, cracked corn, scalded
Indian meal with beef scraps, barley
buckwheat and chopped cabbage, and in
! the breeding season only with cabbage
| lettuce and grain. The hen, when in con-
| tinement, does not lay in a nest, but drops
her eggs promiscuously about the yard.
The chief difficulty, as / said before, IN
breeding pheasants, Is the rearing OF the
| chicks, as when they are young they are
delicate as regards food, and it is difficult
in confinement to procure food that will
agree with them-maggots being about the
/ only article on which they seem to thrive.
! Il is also very dangerous for young birds
! to get chilled, and a great many will be
| lost in this way, unless great care is taken
| The greatest check to the successful rear
| ing of young pheasants, however, is the
! depreciation of cats. If a cat once gets
! into the habit of coming after them, she
is good for one a day. One year I planted
forty-one cats and seven skunks that
found prowling about the pleasantly
| had care of.
To procure the necessary maggots, the
| best plan is to raise them from Sleeps
livers. Procure several of them and pui
them under an empty barrel in the sun
in short time there will be thousands Of
maggots to feed the young pheasants with
Replace the livers from time to time, ST
as to keep up a, succession. This will bt
found the only way to obtain the suitable
I food, and no pheasants can be raised with
out il.