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CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY |

LABORATORY
OF ORNITHOLOGY
LIBRARY

Gift of

LABORATORY OF ORNITHOLOGY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
ITHACA, NEW YORK

Cornell University

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022520807

‘SOVWOTd SLI ONIAVIdSIC LNVSVHHd SADAV AHL

Nay AWS SX

si

PHEASANTS:

THEIR

Natural History and Practical Management.

4
BY

W. B. TEGETMEIER, F.ZS.

(Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union; General Editor of the Willughby Society.)

AUTHOR OF “THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRANES,” “THE POULTRY
BOOK,” ETC., ETC.

SECOND EDITION, GREATLY ENLARGED.

ILLUSTRATED WITH FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS DRAWN FROM LIFE
BY T. W. WOOD..

LONDON :
HORACE COX,
THe FIN LD ” OF FICH, 346, STRAND.

1881.
(All rights) reserved.)
ta Sv 4

Rte RARY

PREFACE.

s DETAILED ACCOUNT of the natural history, habits, food, and
\. treatment of the various species of Pheasants had long been a
desideratum ; this book was projected with a view to supply the
want in a more complete and comprehensive form than had
2% hitherto been attempted. The extremely favourable reception which
the First Edition met with, not only from messieurs the reviewers,
“. but also from the general public, showed that the demand. for such

information was not over-estimated, whilst the opinions expressed by many
- of our best authorities led me to believe that the endeavour to combine
ornithological research with practical experience in the management of this
group of birds was not unattended with success. My obligations to numerous
correspondents on various branches of the subject are duly acknowledged throughout
the pages of the work.

In the following work I propose to give the natural history and general
practical management, not only of the pheasants, strictly so called—those adapted
for the covert—but also of the allied species, which are the most beautiful ornaments
of our aviaries.

The progress of scientific exploration is continually bringing to light species
of pheasants hitherto unknown ; many of these may be well suited to our coverts,
whilst others will find a place in our collections of ornamental birds. A few years
since the only pheasant bred wild in England was the common species (Phasianus
colchicus) ;-our coverts now possess the Chinese (P. torquatus) and the Japanese
(P. versicolor) species. There are others, as the Reeves pheasant (P. reevesii), still
more beautiful, and equally well adapted both for sporting and culinary purposes.
In the same manner, our aviaries have recently been enriched by the addition of
the Amherst pheasant (Thawmalea amherstie) and numerous others, which, by their
exquisite beauty, eclipse even the gorgeous coloration and elegant markings of the
comparatively well-known gold and silver pheasants.

To indicate and illustrate these various species, to give as far as is known
their natural history, to describe the best methods of rearing them in preserves and
a

iv PREFACE.

inclosed pheasantries, to enter into the numerous little details respecting their
food, management, protection, rearing, diseases, &c., is the object at which I have
aimed in the preparation of the following work.

I shall first treat of the Natural History of the Pheasants generally—their
food, habits, nesting, &c.—as far as may be considered desirable in a work of this
kind. Then will follow the consideration of their Management in Preserves, the
details of the different methods of feeding the birds, their protection from their
numerous enemies, the formation of coverts, &c. This will be succeeded by an
account of their Treatment in inclosed Pheasantries, the hatching of the eggs,
rearing and feeding the young birds, and the prevention and cure of their diseases.

A detailed description of all the different species adapted for turning out, and
of the various hybrids and crosses between them, will follow; and the work will
conclude with an account of the allied ornamental species, such as the Gold, Silver,
and Amherst Pheasants, and the best methods of their Management in Aviaries.

Of the admirable engravings which illustrate the volume I may remark, in
the words of Izaak Walton, “Next let me add this, that he that likes not the
book should like the excellent pictures . . . . which I may take a liberty to
commend, because they concern not myself.”

W. B. TEGETMEIER.
Fincuiey, N.
March, 1881.

CONTENTS.

Crap. Pace
I.—NaturaL History oF THE PHEAsaANts—Habits, Food, Structure, &c.... 1
II. by ‘ x af Introduction, Distribution, &c. 14
TII.—MANAGEMENT IN PREsERVES—Formation of Coverts ..........ccceeeeeeeeeee 24
IV. ; - - Feeding in Coverts ........2::0ccsceeeereeeeee 82
V. Pa o % Rearing and Protection .......:.:ccee 87
VI.—MANAGEMENT IN CONFINEMENT—Pens and Aviaries................000-seeee0e 50
VIL. . % 3 Laying and Hatching ..................... 60
VIII. . 4 ‘i Rearing the Young Birds ............... 71
ITX.—Diseases oF PHeasants—The Gapes, Cramp, & €. 0... eeeeeeeee BL
X.—PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE CoveRT—The Common Pheasant ......... 89
XI. z mm % zs The Chinese Pheasant ............. 94
XII. ° ss ne ie The Japanese Pheasant ......... 98
XIII. 9 3 oe ss Scemmerring’s Pheasant ......... 103
XIV. a as ‘a Reeves’s Pheasant ............... 109
XV.—PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE Aviany—The Golden Pheasant ............ 111
XVI. 5 = ee The Amherst Pheasant ......... 121
XVII. r i : ,. The Silver Pheasant............... 126
XVIII. ‘3 PP $5 55 The Eared Pheasant................ 129
XIX. 4 - is és The Impeyan Pheasant ......... 181
XX. ‘5 “5 5 5 The Argus Pheasant ............ 184
APPENDIX.

CL EANSEOR TON Fe BAG AW IS: cay nace a uaaanemueaeuas ouncrcavauen sansa seu ca ue ccaenn umeaeaneiuenecco- Jae

PHEASANTS

FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES.

CHAPTER I.

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

HABITS, FOOD, STRUCTURE, ETC.

<=) HE PHEASANTS, properly so called (as distinguished from the allied
: but perfectly distinct groups which include the Gold and Silver
pheasants, the Kaleege, the Monaul, &c.) constitute the genus
or group known to naturalists under the title Phasianus. Of
the true pheasants no less than thirteen distinct species have
been described by the most recent writer on the subject, Mr.
2 D. G. Elliot, in hig magnificent monograph on the Phasianide.

Ar Of these several are known only by rare specimens of their skins

5 brought from scarcely explored Asiatic countries, and others cannot be
regarded as anything more than mere local or geographical varieties of well
known species.

Without including, however, such birds as have, from their rarity or other
causes, no practical interest to English game preservers, there remain several well
known species that will require our careful consideration. Such are: The common
pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), now generally diffused throughout southern and
central Europe; the Chinese (P. torquatus); the Japanese (P. versicolor); the
Reeves (P. Reevesii); and the Scmmerring (P. Semmerringii). These, however,
are so closely related in their structure, form, and habits, that their natural history
and general management may be given once for all, and their distinctive pecu-
liarities pointed out subsequently.

The pheasants constituting the genus Phasianus are readily distinguished by
their extremely elongated tail feathers, which attain their maximum development in

B

2 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS,

the Reeves pheasant, reaching in that species to a length exceeding five or six feet.
They are all destitute of feathered crests or fleshy combs, but are furnished with
small tufts of feathers behind the eyes. In their native state they are essentially
forest birds, frequenting the margins of woods, coming into the open tracts in
search of food, and retreating into the thick underwood at the slightest cause for
alarm. The common pheasant, which has been introduced from its native country,
Asia Minor, for upwards of a thousand years, though spread over the greater part
of Europe, still retains “its primitive habits.

“Tt is,’ says Naumann, “certainly a forest bird, but not in the truest sense
of the term; for neither does it inhabit the densely wooded districts, nor the depths
of the mixed forest, unless driven to do so. Small pieces of grove, where deep
underbush and high grass grow between the trees, where thorn hedges, berry-
growing bushes, and water overgrown with reeds, and here and there pastures and
fields are found, are its chosen places of abode. Nor must well-cultivated and
grain-growing fields be wanting where this bird is to do well. It neither
likes the bleak mountain country nor dry sandy places; nor does it frequent the
pine woods unless for protection against its enemies, or during bad weather, or at
night.”

“In our own country,” says Macgillivray, “its favourite places of resort are
thick plantations, or tangled woods by streams, where, among the long grass, brambles,
and other shrubs, it passes the night, sleeping on the ground in summer and autumn,
but commonly roosting in the trees in the winter.”

Like the domestic fowl, which it closely resembles in its internal structure
and its habits, the pheasant is an omnivorous feeder; grain, herbage, roots,
berries, and other small fruits, insects, acorn, beech mast, are alike acceptable to
it. Naumann, in his work on the “ Birds of Germany,” gives the following detailed
description of its dietary on the Continent. “Its food consists of grain, seeds,
fruits, and berries, with green herbs, insects, and worms, varying with the time of
year. Ants, and particularly their larve, are a favourite food, the latter forming
the chief support of the young. It also eats many green weeds, the tender shoots
of grass, cabbage, young clover, wild cress, pimpernel, young peas, &., &e. Of
berries: the wild mezereum (Daphne Mezereuwm), wild strawberries (Fragaria),
currants, elderberries from the species Sambucus racemosa, S. nigra, and S. Ebulus ;
blackberries (Rubus césius, R. ideus, and R. fruticosus); misletoe (Viscum album) ;
hawthorn (Crategus torminalis). Plums, apples, and pears it eats readily, and
cherries, mulberries, and grapes it also takes when it can get them. In the autumn,
ripe seeds are its chief food, it eats those of many of the sedges and grasses, and
of several species of Polygonum, as P. dumetorum; black bindweed (P. convolvulus) ;
knot grass (P. aviculare); and also those of the cow-wheat (Melampyrum); and
acorns, beech mast, &c., form a large portion of its food in the latter months of

FOOD IN WILD STATE. B}

the year. Amongst forest plants, it likes the seeds of the hemp-nettle (Galeopsis),
and it also feeds on almost all the seeds that the farmer sows.”

To this long catalogue of its continental fare may be added the roots of the
common silver weed (Potentilla anserina), and the tubers of the common buttercups
(Ranunculus bulbosus and R. ficaria), which are often scratched out of the soil and
eaten. Macgillivray states that “One of the most remarkable facts relative to this
bird that has come under my observation, was the presence of a very large quantity
of the fronds of the common polypody (Polypodiwm vulgare) in the crop of one
which I opened in the winter of 1835. I am not aware that any species of fern
has ever been found constituting part of the food of a ruminating quadruped or
gallinaceous bird; and if it should be found by experiment that the pheasant thrives
on such substances, advantage might be taken of the circumstance.”

Thompson, in his ‘‘ Natural History of Ireland,” recounts the different varieties
of food he observed in opening the crops of ten pheasants—from November to April
inclusive. In seven he discovered the fruit of the hawthorn, with grain, small
seeds, and peas. In one no less than thirty-seven acorns. Another. had its crop
nearly filled with grass; only one contained any insects, the period of examination
being the colder months of the year; in summer the pheasant is decidedly insecti-
vorous; all contained numerous fragments of stone. He also records that in the
spring the yellow flowers of the pilewort (Ranunculus ficaria) are always eaten in
large quantity, as are the tuberous roots of the common silver weed ( Potentilla
anserina), when they are turned up by cultivation. Mr. Thompson adds :—
“While spending the month of January, 1849, at the sporting quarters of Ardimersy
Cottage, Island of Islay, where pheasants are abundant, and attain a very large size
—the ring-necked variety, too, being common—I observed that these birds, in the
outer or wilder coverts, feed, during mild as well as severe weather, almost wholly
on hazel nuts. In the first bird that was remarked to contain them, they were
reckoned, and found to be twenty-four in number, all of full size and perfect; in
addition were many large insect larve. Either oats or Indian corn being thrown
out every morning before the windows of the cottage for pheasants, I had an oppor-.
tunity of observing their great preference of the former to the latter. After several
grains of the Indian corn were picked up hastily, they seemed to stick in the bird’s
throat, and were with much difficulty swallowed; the neck was moved in various
directions to accomplish this object, and the eyes were often closed in the effort; but
immediately afterwards the birds recommenced eating at the grain which had given
them such trouble. Yet this grain is small, compared with full-sized hazel nuts. I
remarked a pheasant one day in Islay taking the sparrow’s place, by picking at
horsedung on the road for undigested oats.”

Among the more singular articles of food that form part of the pheasant’s
very varied dietary may be mentioned the spangles of the oak so common in the

B2

4 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

autumn on the under side of the leaves. These are galls ‘caused by the presence of
the eggs of several species of cynips or gall-fly, which may be reared from the
spangles if they are collected in the autumn, and kept in a cool and rather moist
atmosphere ‘during the winter. About the fall of the leaf these spangles begin to
lose their flat mushroom-like form and red hirsute appearance, and become by
degrees raised or bossed towards the middle, in consequence of the growth of the
enclosed grub, which now becomes visible when the spangle is cut open. The
perfect insect makes its appearance in April and May. Some few years since Mr.
R. Carr Ellison published the following account of their being eagerly sought after
and devoured by pheasants in a wild state:—‘“ Just before the fall of the oak-leaf
these spangles (or the. greater part of them) become detached from it, and are
scattered upon the ground under the trees in great profusion. Our pheasants delight
in picking them up, especially from the surface of walks and roads, where they are
most easily found. But, as they are quite visible even to human eyes, among the
wet but undecayed leaves beneath the oaks, wherever pheasants have been turning
them up, a store of winter food is evidently provided by these minute and dormant
insects with their vegetable incasement, in addition to the earthworms, slugs, &c.,
which induce the pheasants to forage so industriously, by scratching up the layers
of damp leaves in incipient decay which cover the woodland soil in winter. Not
only have we found the spangles plentifully in the crops of pheasants that have
been shot, but, on presenting leaves covered with them to the common and to the
gold pheasants in confinement, we observed the birds to pick them up without a
moment’s hesitation, and to look eagerly for more.”

The value of pheasants to the agriculturist is scarcely sufficiently appreciated ;
the birds destroy enormous numbers of injurious insects—upwards of twelve hundred
wireworms have been taken out of the crop of a pheasant; and if this number was
consumed at a single meal, the total destroyed must be almost incredible. There is
no doubt that insects are preferred to grain, one pheasant shot at the close of the
shooting season had in its crop 726 wireworms, one acorn, one snail, nine berries,
and three grains of wheat. Mr. F. Bond states that he took out of the crop of a
pheasant 440 grubs of the crane fly. As another instance of their insectivorous
character may be mentioned the complaint of Mr. Charles Waterton, that they had
extirpated the evasshoppers from Walton Park.

Like their allies, the domestic fowls, pheasants are occasionally carnivorous in
their appetites. A correspondent writes: “This morning my keeper brought me a
pied cock pheasant, found dead, but still warm, in some standing barley. The bird
was in finest condition,“and showed no marks whatever, when plucked, of a violent
death. On searching the} gullet I extracted a short-tailed field mouse, which had
doubtless caused death by strangulation. May not such a fact account for what is
often mysterious in the loss of healthy pheasants?” The Hon. and Rev. C. Bathurst,

DIGESTIVE ORGANS—POWER OF FLIGHT. 5

in a letter published in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii., p. 153,
relates that Sir John Ogilvy saw a pheasant flying off with a common slowworm
(Anguis fragilis); that this reptile does sometimes form part of the food of the pheasant
is confirmed by Mr. J. E. Harting, who recounts, in his work on “ The Birds of
Middlesex,” that “on examining the crop of a pied pheasant, shot in October, 1864,
I was surprised to find in it a common slowworm (Anguwis fragilis) which measured
eight inches in length. It was not quite perfect, having lost the tip of the tail;
otherwise, if whole, it would probably have measured nine inches.”

The structure of the digestive organs of the pheasant is perfectly adapted
to the assimilation of the food on which it feeds. The sharp edge of the upper
mandible of the bill is admirably fitted for cutting off portions of the vegetables
on which it partly subsists, and the whole organ is equally well adapted for securing
the various articles of its extensive dietary. The food, when swallowed, passes into
a very ‘capacious membranous crop, situated under the skin at the fore part of the
breast. From this organ portions gradually pass into the true digestive stomach,
the proventriculus of the anatomist; this is a short tube, an inch and a half long,
connecting the crop with the gizzard. Small as this organ may be, it is one of
extreme importance, as the numerous small glands of which it mainly consists secrete
the acid digestive or gastric fluid necessary to the digestion of the food; and in all
cases in which pheasants or fowls are fed on too great an abundance of animal food,
or any highly-stimulating diet, this organ becomes inflamed, and death is the result.
From the proventriculus the food passes into the gizzard, which is lined with a
dense thick skin or cuticle; in its cavity the food is ground down to a pulp, the
process being assisted by the presence of the numerous small stones and angular
pieces of gravel, &c., swallowed by the bird. The food, thus ground to a pulp, passes
on into the intestines, which are no less than six feet in length; in the upper part
of this long canal it is mingled with the bile formed in the liver, the pancreatic
fluid, &c., and, as it passes from one extremity to the other, the nourishment for
the support of the animal is extracted; this being greatly aided by the operation of
the two ceca, or blind intestines, which are very large in all the birds of this
group.

The flight of the pheasant is strong, and is performed by rapid and frequent
beats of the wings, the tail at the same time being expanded. The ‘force with
which the bird flies may be inferred from the result which has not’ unfrequently
occurred when it has come into contact with thick plate glass in windows. A
correspondent states: “A few days ago, a cock pheasant rose about three hundred
yards from my house and flew against the centre of a plate glass window, smashing
it into a thousand fragments. The glass was 3ft. 8in. by 3ft. din., and lin. thick;
and such was the force of the concussion that not a single piece remained six
inches square. A slight snow on the ground rendered the window more than usually

6 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

a mirror reflecting the outer landscape. It is needless to say the bird was killed
instantaneously. Two hen pheasants had on previous occasions been killed in the
same way, but the glass was not damaged.” Mr. G. A. Hackett, of Pailton House,
Rugby, also wrote as follows: “I was much astonished to-day, at about two o'clock,
by hearing a loud crash of glass in my smoking-room, and on going there I found
a cock pheasant dead on the floor close to the window, and the plate of glass,
which is 4ft. by 3ft. 6in., and jin. thick, in thousands of fragments. I am certain
no blow from a man could have in like manner demolished the glass, of which I
send you a piece. The pheasant was a ring-necked, last year’s bird, and weighed
nearly 3lb.” These instances occurred in the day-time. Sometimes the birds are
attracted by a light, as in the following cases: “‘On a very rough night in January,
a hen pheasant flew through the hall window at Merthyr Manor, Bridgend, attracted
by a light inside.” And the following incident is related as occurring in a village
not far from Bangor, on the banks of a river on the opposite side of which is a
plantation well stocked with pheasants: “One stormy night there sat in a room of
a small public, which had a window facing the plantation, six or, seven men enjoying
their pipes and beer, when all of a sudden crash went the window, out went the
candle, and out rushed the men in great consternation. On examining the room a
splendid cock pheasant was found under the table.”

The wings, considered with reference to the size and weight of the bird, are
short and small; from the secondary quills being nearly as long as the primary,
they are very rounded in form, the third and fourth primary feathers being the
longest. The wings are not adapted to a very prolonged flight, although the
denizens of the wilder districts in the country fly with a speed and cover a distance
that are alike unknown to the over-fattened birds in our preserves. Long flights
are, however, not altogether beyond the powers of the bird. One of unusual length
was recorded by Mr. J. Cordeaux, of Great Cotes, Ulceby, who states that ‘“ when
shooting in the marshes on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber, near Grimsby,
a man who works on the sea embankment came to say that two pheasants had just
flown over from the Yorkshire side, alighting within a few feet of where he was
working among the rough grass on the bank. On going to the spot indicated, I at
once found and shot them; they were both hens, and in very good condition. The
Humber at this place from shore to shore is nearly four miles across. There was a
strong northerly breeze blowing at the time, so that they would cross before the
wind, or with the wind a little aslant. I have occasionally found pheasants in the
marshes, and near the embankment, which I was sure must have come across, but
had no direct evidence of the fact.”

The comparatively small size of the wings necessitates their being moved
with great force and velocity, and consequently the moving powers or muscles of
the breast are very large and well developed, taking their origin from the deep

POWER OF SWIMMING. 7

keel on the breast bone. The tail is long, and tapers to a point; it is composed
of eighteen straight pointed feathers.

The pheasant, like most of its congeners, is a terrestrial bird, seeking its
food, making its nest, and rearing its young upon the surface of the ground. Its
legs, like those of all true rasorial or scratching birds, are strong and muscular,
consequently it is capable of running with great speed. The strong blunt claws are
admirably adapted for scratching seeds and tuberous roots from the ground, or
worms and larve from beneath fallen leaves.

Though seldom taking voluntarily to the water, the pheasant is quite capable
of the power of swimming, as is proved by the following instances. A well-known
game preserver writes: ‘“ When out walking to-day with my keeper, near the end of
a long pond running under one of my woods, we fancied that we heard some young
pheasants calling in the high grass. On going up to the place where we had heard
the noise, an old hen pheasant got up and flew over the pond, which is about
eighteen or nineteen feet wide at this place and about four feet deep. To our
astonishment one of the young birds ran down to the water, went into it, and
swam safely to the other side after its mother. The young birds could not
have been more than fourteen days old.” Old birds will also voluntarily swim
across rivers, as in the following instance: ‘“ While flogging the waters of the
Usk, I saw'a sight that struck me with astonishment. A fine cock pheasant
was walking about on the bank of the river, here quite thirty yards broad and
Tunning at the rate of four knots an hour. On our approach he quietly took to
the water like a duck, and, after floating down stream a few yards, boldly struck
across, and, swimming high and with great ease, reached the bank nearly opposite
to the spot whence he set out.’? And other similar cases are on record, thus—
Mr. Donald Campbell, of Dunstafforage, Oban, states, “Six pheasants, five cocks
and a hen, attempted to fly across Loch Etive from one of the Ardchattan coverts
on the north side of the loch, which near that spot varies from half a mile to a
mile in width. When about half-way across one of them was seen either to fall
or alight on the water, and its example was immediately followed by the other five.
Fortunately, the son of the Ardchattan gamekeeper, who was in a boat on the
loch at the time, observed the occurrence, and rowed to the spot; but, as he had
some distance to go, by the time he reached the birds they were very much
exhausted and half-drowned, and were drifting helplessly with the tide. He got
them into the boat and took them ashore, and, after being well dried and placed
in warm boxes near a good fire, they all eventually recovered. The day was cold
and frosty, and there was a’ slight fog on the water.” When wounded and dropped
into the water pheasants swim with facility, and some instances are on record of
their diving beneath the surface and rising at some distance.

As the breeding season approaches, the crow of the male, resembling the

8 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

imperfect attempts of a young fowl, may be heard frequently. It is followed, and
not preceded as in the game cock, by the clapping of the wings; the’ pheasant and
the domestic cock invariably reversing the order of the succession of these two
actions. Like the domestic fowl, pheasants will also answer any loud noise, occurring
either by day or night; they have been noticed replying regularly to the signal
gun at Shorncliffe, which is fired at sunrise and sunset, and this in coverts situated
some miles distant; and the practice with the heavy guns at the various military
stations. will often cause a chorus of “cucketing’’ in all the coverts for a great
distance round.

The display of the plumage during courtship by the males varies in almost
every species of gallinaceous birds. That of the pheasant has been carefully described
by Mr. T. W. Wood, in his interesting article on “The Courtship of Birds” (The
Student, April, 1870). Pheasants seem to possess no other mode of display than
the lateral or one-sided method. In this the males disport themselves so as to
exhibit to the females a greater number of their beautiful feathers than could other-
wise be seen at one view. The peculiar attitude assumed by the male is correctly
shown in the vignette on page 18; the wing of the side nearest the female is partly
opened and depressed, precisely in the same manner as performed by the male of the
common fowl, and in addition the tail is expanded, and the upper surface turned
towards the same side, whilst the bright vermilion skin around the eye is greatly
extended, and the little purple aigrettes erected. Singular modifications of this
method of display occur in the Argus and the Golden Pheasant and other species,
which will be noticed in the chapters relating to those birds.

In a state of nature there is little doubt that the pheasant is polygamous.
The males are armed with spurs, with which they fight, the stronger driving away
the weaker, and the most vigorous propagate their kind.

The nest of the female is usually a simple hollow scraped in the ground.
After depositing her eggs (usually about eight or nine in number) she is deserted
by the male, and the task of incubation and rearing the young depends on her
alone. The eggs vary in colour from a greenish brown to a greyish green; in size
they are, on the average, an inch and five-sixths in length, by an inch and five-
twelfths in width. The period of incubation is twenty-four days.

Hen pheasants, like common fowls, not unfrequently have nests in common,
in which case as many as eighteen or twenty eggs will be found together. Some-
times three hens will take to the same nest, and as many as thirty eggs have been
seen resulting from their copartnership. It is still more singular that the pheasant
and the partridge often share the same nest. Mr. Walter Yate, of Pemberton,
Shropshire, stated, “ About a week ago one of my workmen informed me that he
had found a nest containing both partridge’s and pheasant’s eggs. I accompanied
him to the place, and there saw the pheasant and partridge seated side by side

NESTING OF PHEASANT. “2

with the utmost amity. I then had the birds driven off, and saw fifteen partridge’s
and sixteen pheasant’s eggs laid indiscriminately together. The eggs were placed
as though the nest had been common to both.” Another correspondent writes :
“ About three weeks ago, when walking round ‘a small wood belonging to me, and
in which I usually breed a good sprinkle of pheasants, I discovered a partridge
sitting on the edge of the bank of the wood; and when she went off to feed I
was much astonished to find that she was sitting on nine pheasant’s eggs and
thirteen of her own, and, after sitting the usual time, hatched them all out.” Mr.
R. Bagnall-Wild records that “in June his keeper noticed three partridge nests,
with thirteen, eleven, and eleven partridges’ eggs, and four, two, and two pheasants’
eggs, respectively in them. He carefully watched, and in all three cases found
that the pheasants were hatched with the young partridges; and in September the
young pheasants still kept with their respective coveys of partridges.” Some-
times the hen pheasant, and not the partridge, is the foster parent. In the
neighbourhood of Chesham, on the 6th of May, 1873, three pheasants’ nests were
observed to contain the following eggs :—the first, on which the hen was sitting,
twenty-two pheasant’s and two French partridge’s eggs; the second, eleven pheasant’s
and five French partridge’s eggs; and the third six pheasant’s and seven French
partridge’s eggs. Mr. Higgins, of Hambledon, states that ‘A pheasant hatched out»
in a piece of vetches of mine, seven partridges and five pheasants on July 6th. She
sat on nine of her own eggs and eight partridge eggs.” In some cases the nest is
even of a more composite character, and the eggs of the common fowl, and those
of partridges and pheasants, have all been found together; and an instance has been
narrated of three wild hen pheasants laying together in the nest of a tame duck.

Although there is usually some attempt at concealment under covert, pheasants’
nests are not unfrequently placed, even by perfectly wild birds, in very exposed
situations. Mr. John Walton, of Sholton Hall, Durham, related the following
account of the singular tameness of a wild bred bird: “ A hen pheasant—a perfectly
wild one so far as rearing is concerned, for we have no artificial processes here—
selected as the site for her nest a hedge by a private cart road, where she was exposed
to the constant traffic of carts, farm servants, and others, passing and repassing her
quarters, all of which she took with infinite composure. She was very soon dis-
covered on her nest, and actually suffered herself when sitting to be stroked down
her plumage by the children and others who visited her, and this without budging
an inch. In fact, she seemed rather to like it. Perhaps she became a pet with
the neighbours from this unusual docility, and her brood (fourteen in number) was
thereby saved; for every egg was hatched, and the young birds have all got
safely away.”

Habitually a nester on the ground, the hen pheasant will sometimes select
the deserted nest of an owl or squirrel as a place for the deposition and incubation

C

10: NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

of her eggs. Several examples of this occurrence are on record, but the following
may suffice to prove that the circumstance is not so unfrequent as may have been
supposed. One correspondent writes as follows: “Our head-keeper told me that one
of his watchers had found a pheasant’s nest up a spruce fir tree. I was incredu-
lous, so I went with him, and had the under-man there to show us. The bird
was sitting on the nest—an old squirrel’s. The man said she had twelve eggs.
He also told us that he knew of another in a similar situation in the same
plantation. The nest I saw was about twelve feet from the ground. The
watchers found it in looking for nests of fiying vermin, as some had escaped the
traps.”

Another states: “A keeper on the Culhorn estate, when on his rounds in
search of vermin, observed a nest, which he took to be that of a hawk, on a Scotch
fir tree, about fifteen feet from the ground. On throwing up a stone, out flew a
fine hen pheasant. The keeper then ascended the tree, and found, to his astonish-
ment, eight pheasants’ eggs in an old owl’s nest. He removed the eggs, and
placed them under a hen, and at the expiration of three days he had eight fine
lively pheasant birds.”

A third states that “at Chaddlewood, near Plympton, Devon, a pheasant
has built its nest (twelve feet from the ground) in the fork of an ash tree close
to the house, and has now laid eight eggs.”

It is difficult to ascertain whether or not in the instances in which the
young are hatched in these elevated situations, they fall out of the nest and are
killed and carried away by predatory animals, or whether they are safely removed
by the parent birds, and if so, by what means; even the following accounts do
not throw much light upon the subject. A correspondent of The Field stated that
““ A hen pheasant made her nest in an oak tree, about nine feet from the ground.
The young were hatched, and she succeeded in taking seven young ones safely to
the ground, leaving five dead in the nest, and one bad egg.” A second stated
that in the park at Fillingham, Lincoln, a pheasant deposited eight eggs in the
nest of a woodpigeon in a fir tree upwards of sixteen feet from the ground; she
hatched out seven of them, but was unfortunate, as four were killed; they were
supposed to have fallen from the nest. And a third reported that on the estate of
the Marquis of Hertford, at Sudborne Hall, Suffolk, a pheasant had taken pos-
session of a nest deserted by a sparrow-hawk, in a spruce fir, twenty-five feet
from the ground, and hatched eight young ones, seven of which she succeeded in
bringing safely down, but in what manner was not stated.

Although as a rule the male pheasant takes no heed of the eggs laid by the
female, or of the offspring when hatched, there are some well ascertained exceptions.
Wild cock pheasants have been seen sitting in nests in the coverts by perfectly
credible witnesses; and, although it has been suggested that the birds might have

LAYING. 11

-been hens that had assumed the male plumage, such an occurrence is even more
unlikely than that a cock should sit, for these hens are always perfectly barren, and
must have assumed the male plumage at the previous autumnal moult; in this con-
dition. they have never been known to manifest the slightest desire to incubate.
Cocks have also been known to protect the young birds, as in the following instance,
which occurred in Aberdeenshire. “I have for the last fortnight almost daily
watched a cock pheasant leading about a brood of young ones, whose mother has
- evidently come to grief. A more attentive and careful nurse could not be than this
cock. He boldly follows his young charge on the lawns and to other places where he
never ventured before, finds them food, and stands sentry over them with untiring
perseverance. They are thriving so well under his care and growing so fast, that
they will soon be able to shift for themselves.” _

The same singular occurrence has also taken place in an aviary. Lord
Willoughby de Broke some time since published the following letter: “I have
an aviary in which there is a cock pheasant and four or five hens of the Chinese
breed ; at the beginning of the laying season the cock scraped a hole in the sand,
in which the hens laid four eggs; he then collected a quantity of loose sticks,
formed a perfect nest, and began to sit; he sat most patiently, seldom leaving the
nest till the eggs were chipped, when the keeper, afraid of his killing them, took
them from him, and placed them under a hen pheasant who was sitting on bad
eggs; they were hatched the next day, and the young birds are now doing well.”

Pheasants usually commence to lay in this country in April or May, the
date varying somewhat with the season and the latitude; but in consequence of
the artificial state in which they are kept in preserves, and the superabundance
of food with which they are supplied, the production of eggs, as in domesticated
fowls, often takes place at most irregular periods. Many instances are recorded of
perfect eggs being found in the oviducts of pheasants shot during the months of
December and January. For example, Sir D. W. Legard, writing from Ganton,
Yorkshire, on the 27th of December, 1864, said: “At the conclusion of a day’s
covert shooting last Tuesday, a-hen pheasant, which had been killed, was discovered
by a keeper to have a lump of some hard substance in her; he opened her in
my. presence, when, to my astonishment, he extracted an egg perfectly formed,
shelled, and apparently ready to be laid; it was of the usual size, but. the colour,
instead of being olive, was a greyish-white.”’

A nest containing an egg has been noticed as early as the 12th of March,
and many cases are recorded of strong nests of young during the first few days of
May. Lord Warwick’s keeper, J. Edwards, in May, 1868, wrote as follows:
“Yesterday (the 6th inst.), whilst searching for pheasant eggs in Grayfield Wood, I
came upon a nest of thirteen pheasant eggs, twelve just hatched and run, and one
left cheeping in the shell. The bird must have begun to lay in the middle of

Cc 2

12 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

March, as they sit twenty-five days, and they do not very often lay (only every
other day, at least at the commencement).” Other cases earlier by three or four
days than this instance have been recorded. The Rev. G. C. Green, of Modbury,
Devon, writes: “On Sunday, April 18, 1875, as my curate was returning from
taking the duty in a neighbouring church, a hen pheasant started from the roadside
hedge close to the town, and fluttered before him. While watching her movements
he saw eleven young pheasants, apparently newly hatched, fluttering in the hedge,
and at the edge of a pond close by. They soon scrambled into some cover, and the -
mother bird flew off to rejoin them from another quarter. I understand, from
inquiry, that this is not a solitary instance of such an early brood of pheasants in
South Devon.”

On the other hand, examples of nests deferred until very late in the year are
not unknown. Mr. W. W. Blest, of Biddenden, near Staplehurst, writes: “Whilst
partridge shooting on the 8rd of September, 1874, we disturbed a sitting pheasant,
the nest containing twelve eggs. We often hear of the early nesting of game birds,
but rarely so late in the season.” In October, 1869, Mr. Walter R. Tyrell, of
Plashwood, near Stowmarket, forwarded to me a young pheasant, with the following
letter : ‘‘ When pheasant shooting with some friends yesterday, the 15th inst., in this
neighbourhood, one of the beaters picked up dead, in a path in the wood we were
in, a very young chick pheasant; it could not have been hatched more than a week.
My keeper tells me he has found them (but very rarely) as young in September.
I forward the young chick to your office, in order that you may inspect it.’ I
carefully. examined the young bird, which was not more than two or three days
old. These late-hatched birds were in all probability the produce of the second laying
during the same season.

The artificial state in which these birds exist, as supplied with nutritive food
and protected in our coverts and preserves, leads to other departures from their
natural conditions. Thus variations of plumage and size are much more frequent
and more marked than would occur in the case of birds in a perfectly wild state.
In some instances the size is very greatly increased. Hen pheasants usually weigh
from two pounds to two pounds and a quarter, whilst the usual weight of cock
pheasants is from about three pounds to three pounds and a half, but Mr. Yarrell,
in his “History of British Birds,” mentions two unusually large; he says “The
lighter bird of the two just turned the scale against four and a half pounds; the
other took the scale down at once. The weights were accurately ascertained, in the
presence of several friends, to decide a wager of which I was myself the loser,”
One of five pounds and half an ounce was sent me by Mr. Carr, of the Strand,
this was a last year’s bird of the common species. And in 1859 one bird, of the
enormous weight of five pounds and three quarters, was sent by Mr. Akroyd, of
Boddington Park, Nantwich, to Mr. Shaw, of Shrewsbury, for preservation. Mr,

WEIGHT OF PHEASANTS. 13

Akroyd stated that “the bird was picked up with broken leg and wing forty-eight
hours after the covert was shot, so had probably lost weight to some extent.” In
reply to the suggestion that it might possibly have been a large hybrid between the
pheasant and the domestic fowl, Mr. Akroyd further stated that “the bird looked all
its weight, and was as distinguished amongst its fellows as a turkey would be amongst
fowls; yet it had no hybrid appearance whatever;” and Mr. Shaw stated that he
weighed it several times. Moreover, he said “the bird, had it been picked up when
shot, would, I have little doubt, have weighed six pounds, there being nothing in its
craw but two single grains of Indian corn; and when the length of time it remained
wounded on the ground, with a broken thigh and wing, is taken into consideration,
there can be little doubt of the fact.’? But the largest on record was described in
vol. xlvi., p. 179, of The Field. G. C. G. writes: “I have received the following
from Mr. Kelly in consequence of a discussion in The Field about the weight of a
pheasant: ‘Some few years since, while Admiral Sir Houston Stewart was residing
at Gnaton, he sent me a pheasant that weighed 6lb. wanting loz. He was an old
bird, and the most splendid in form and plumage that I ever beheld. A few days
afterwards, being at Gnaton, I told Sir Houston that I had weighed the bird, but
I thought my weights must be incorrect, and asked him whether he knew its weight.
He said, “ You are quite right. I weighed it before I sent it to you, and that is
my weight.’ In these cases of exceptionally large birds, it is usually found that
the extreme weight is owing to the fattening influence of the maize on which they
have been fed, some are even so distended with fat as to burst open on concussion
with the ground as they fall from the gun.

COCK PHEASANT DISPLAYING ITS PLUMAGE.

CHAPTER Il1.

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS CONTINUED).

son ( Ay NON-DOMESTICITY—INTRODUCTION INTO
Ae BRITAIN—DISTRIBUTION,

se T IS sometimes suggested by persons ignorant of the true nature
Z of the pheasant, that it might be domesticated and reared like
our ordinary farmyard fowl. Such persons are apparently not
aware that the instinct of domestication is one of the rarest
possessed by animals. Man has been for some thousands of
years capturing, subduing, and taming hundreds of different species
: of animals of all classes; but of these, the number that he has
as succeeded in really domesticating does not amount to fifty. A very
cre large proportion of animals are capable of being tamed, and rendered
perfectly familiar with man; but that is a totally distinct state from one of
domestication. The common pheasant is a good example of this distinction. In-
dividual examples may be rendered so tame as to become even troublesome from
their courage and familiarity ; but although others have been bred in aviaries
for scores of generations, their offspring still retain their original wildness, and
when let out at large betake themselves to the woods and coverts as soon as able
to shift for themselves. On the other hand, the allied species, the jungle fowl
(Gallus bankiva), the original of our domestic breeds of poultry, if reared in
confinement, becomes immediately domesticated, the young returning home at night
with a regularity that has given rise to the proverbial saying that “Curses, like ©
chickens, come home to roost.”

Examples of the tameness of individual pheasants are not rare; to the
fearless nature of a sitting hen I have already alluded. The males become even
more familiar, and even at times aggressive; one of the most amusing examples
was recorded some time since by a correspondent, who wrote as follows: “ Having
recently been on a visit to a friend of mine living in Kent, I had an opportunity
of there witnessing the effect of an extraordinary antipathy to crinoline exemplified

A)

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UD

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COMMON PHEASANT (Phasianus Colchicus).

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———,
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= = =

TAMENESS OF PHEASANTS. 15

in a fine cock pheasant which inhabited, or rather infested, the grounds and shrub-
bery. He had been originally, I believe, reared on the premises, but had become
as wild as any of his fellows, and, after having been lord of a harem of some seven
or eight ladies last spring, who had all reared their families and gone off with
them, had been left in loneliness, with his temper soured against the female sex at
large. His beat was for about a quarter of a mile between the house and the
entrance-gate, and on the approach of anything in the shape of crinoline his temper
was roused to such a degree that he attacked it with all his might and main, flying
up at the unnatural appendage, pecking fiercely with his bill, and striking out at
it with his spurs like any game-cock. I witnessed all this with my own eyes, and
was not surprised at the terror he had created among the females by whom he was
positively dreaded, and not without reason. One lady had attempted to protect
herself by taking a terrier as her guardian, who at first offered fight in her defence,
but was soon compelled to show the white feather, and at the very sight of his
antagonist ran off with his tail between his legs. At length, however, he met with
his master in the shape of a gipsy-woman, who being of course uncrinolined, and.
therefore considering herself unjustly attacked, set upon him, and not only pulled
out his tail, but crushed him with her foot, and left him on his back apparently
in the agonies of death. The domestics, however, went to his assistance, and by
their kind attentions he was restored. Still his old antipathy revived with his
returning strength, and in a day or two the sight of crinoline again roused his
wrath. Therefore, for fear of his meeting with an untimely end from some other
strong-minded woman, it was decided that he should have his wing clipped, and be
kept prisoner within the walls of the kitchen-garden.”

The wife of Mr. Barnes (formerly head keeper to Mr. D. Wynham, of
Denton Hall, near Salisbury), carefully nursed a very young hen pheasant’ with a
broken leg. She got well, and in course of time was turned out with the rest of
the brood into the adjacent woods. _For several seasons afterwards this hen brought
her own brood to the keeper’s lodge.

Mr. T. B. Johnson, in his “ Gamekeeper’s Directory,” mentions one he had
reared from the nest that became uncommonly familiar: “It will follow me,’’ he
writes, “into the garden or homestead, where it will feed on insects and grass, and
I occasionally observed it swallow large worms. Of all things, however, flies appear
to be its favourite food. Before he was able to fly, I frequently lifted him into the
window, and it was truly amusing to witness his dexterity in fly catching. He had
been named Dick, to which he answers as well as possible. Dick is a very social
being, who cannot endure being left alone; and if it so happen (as it occasionally
does) that the bird finds every person has quitted the room, he immediately goes
in search of some of the family; if the door be shut, and his egress thus denied,
he utters the most plaintive noise, evidently testifying every symptom of uneasiness

16 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

and fear in being separated from his friends and protectors. Dick is a great
favourite, and on this account is suffered to take many liberties. When breakfast
is brought in he jumps on the table, and very unceremoniously helps himself to
bread, or to whatever he takes a fancy; but, different from the magpie or jackdaw
under similar circumstances, Dick is easily checked. He is fond of stretching
himself in the sunbeams; and if this be not attainable, before the kitchen fire.
On being taken into the house he was presented to the view of the cat, the latter
at the same time given to understand that the bird was privileged, and that she
must not disturb him. The cat is evidently not fond of Dick as an inmate, but,
she abstains from violence. J have seen her, it is true, give him a blow with her
paw, but this only occurs when the bird attempts to take bread, &c., from her;
and not always then, as she frequently suffers herself to be robbed by him. Dick
has also made friends with my pointers. He sleeps in my bed-room, but is by no
means so early a riser as his fraternity in a state of nature; however, when he
comes forth his antics are amusing enough; he shakes himself, jumps and flies
about the room for several minutes, and then descends into the breakfast room.’’
Whether this bird would or would not have continued tame and domesticated
during the following breeding season was unfortunately never ascertained, as it
partook of the fate of most pets, and was killed accidentally by the opening of
a door.

The incapacity of pheasants for domestication has been remarked by all those
who have tried in vain to rear them as domestic birds. The late Mr. Charles
Waterton, of Walton Hall, made the attempt under the most advantageous circum-
stances, and thus recounts the result of his experiments: ‘“ Notwithstanding the
proximity of the pheasant to the nature of the barndoor fowl, still it has that within
it which baffles every attempt on our part to render its domestication complete.
What I allude to is, a most singular innate timidity, which never fails to show
itself on the sudden and abrupt appearance of an object. I spent some months in
trying to overcome this timorous propensity in the pheasant, but I failed completely
in the attempt. The young birds, which had been hatched under a domestic hen,
soon became very tame, and would even receive food from the hand when it was
offered cautiously to them. They would fly up to the window, and would feed in
company with the common poultry, but if anybody approached them unawares, off
they went to the nearest covert with surprising velocity; they remained in it till all
was quiet, and then returned with their usual confidence. Two of them lost their
lives in the water by the unexpected appearance of a pointer, while the barndoor
fowls seemed scarcely to notice the presence of the intruder; the rest took finally to
the woods at the commencement of the breeding season. This particular kind of
timidity, which does not appear in our domestic fowls, seems to me to oppose the
only, though at the same time an unsurmountable, bar to our final triumph over

DATE OF INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND. 17

the pheasant. After attentive observation, I can perceive nothing else in the habits
of the bird to serve as a clue by which we may be enabled to trace the cause of
failure in the many attempts which have been made to invite it to breed in our
yards, and retire to rest with the barndoor fowl and turkey.”

With regard to the date of the introduction of the pheasant into England,
Mr. Thompson, writing in 1866, says he knows of no records which afford any
clue to the period when it was first brought into this country; and that though
probably its acclimatisation does not date back further than the Norman Conquest,
yet it is possible that our Roman invaders may have imported it at a much earlier
period, with other imperial luxuries.

This suggestion is singularly near the truth, for the pheasant has been
recently shown by Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins to have been naturalised in this country
upwards of eight hundred years. Writing to The Ibis for 1869, that gentleman
says, “It may interest your readers to know that the most ancient record of
the occurrence of the pheasant in Great Britain is to be found in the tract ‘De
inventione Sanctz Crucis nostre in Monte Acuto et de ductione ejusdem apud
Waltham,’ edited from manuscripts in the British Museum by Professor Stubbs,
and published in 1861. The bill of fare drawn up by Harold for the canons’
households of from six to seven persons, A.D. 1059, and preserved in a manuscript
of the date of circa 1177, was as follows (p. 16):

“<«Erant autem tales pitantiz: unicuique canonico: a festo Sancti Michaelis
usque ad caput jejunii [Ash Wednesday] aut xii merule, aut ii aganseee [Agace,
a magpie (?), Ducange], aut ii perdices, aut unus phasianus, reliquis temporibus
aut ance [Geese, Ducange| aut Galline.’

“Now the point of this passage is that it shows that Phasianus colchicus
had become naturalised in England before the Norman invasion; and as the English
and Danes were not the introducers of strange animals in any well authenticated
case, it offers fair presumptive evidence that it was introduced by the Roman con-
querors, who naturalised the fallow deer in Britain.”

“The eating of magpies at Waltham, though singular, was not as remarkable
as the eating of horse by the monks of St. Galle in the time of Charles the Great,
and the returning thanks to God for it:

Sit feralis equi caro dulcis sub cruce Christi!

The bird was not so unclean as the horse—the emblem of paganism—was
unholy.”

In Dugdale’s “ Monasticon Anglicanum” is a reference by which it appears
that the Abbot of Amesbury obtained a licence to kill hares and pheasants in
the first years of the reign of King Henry the First, which commenced on the
second of August, 1100; and Daniell, in his “ Rural Sports,” quotes “ Echard’s

D

18 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

History of England” to the effect that in the year 1299 (the twenty-seventh of
Edward I.) the price of a pheasant was fourpence, a couple of woodcocks three-
halfpence, a mallard three-halfpence, and a plover one penny.

“To these notices,” writes my friendly critic in the Saturday Review,
“might have been added another which seems to set the pheasant at a higher
premium, but which has escaped Mr. Tegetmeier—to wit, that in 1170 Thomas
& Becket, on the day of his martyrdom, dined on a pheasant, and enjoyed it, as
it would seem from the remark of one of his monks, that ‘he dined more heartily

and cheerfully that day than usual.’ ”’
A most interesting series of extracts respecting the medieval history of

this bird is to be found in Mr.

which we quote the following : ;
“Leland, in his account of the feast given at the inthronisation of George
Nevell, Archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward IV., tells us that, amongst

other good things, two hundred ‘ fesauntes’

“Tn the

xiiij* day of Novembre,’ the following entry occurs :

Harting’s “Ornithology of Shakespeare,

” from

were provided for the: guests.
‘Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York,’ under date ‘the

““«Ttm. The same day to Richard Mylner of Byndfeld for bringing
a present of fesauntes cokkes to the Queen to Westminster... vs.”

“In the ‘Household Book’ of Henry Percy, fifth Earl of Northumberland,
which was commenced in 1512, the pheasant is thus referred to:

“*Ttem, Fesauntes to be hade for my Lordes own Mees at Principall Feestes

and to be at xijd. a pece.’

“*Ttem, Frssauntis for my Lordes owne Meas to be hadde at Principalle
Feistis ande to be at xijd. a pece.’*

* “ As a copy of the ‘ Northumberland Household Book’ is not readily accessible, we give the fallawmng
interesting extract, showing the price, at that date, of various birds for the table:

Capons at iid. a pece leyn (lean).
‘Chickeyns at $d. a pece.
Hennys at iid. a pece.
Swannys (no price stated).
Geysse iiid. or iiiid. at the moste.
Pluvers id. or idd. at moste.
Cranys xvid. a pece.
Hearonsewys (i.e. Heronshaws
or Herons) xiid. a pece.
Mallardes iid. a pece.
Woodcokes id. or itd, at the
moste. .

Teylles id. a pece.

Wypes (i.e. Lapwings) id. a pece.
Seegulles id. or i4d. at the moste.

Styntes after vi. a id.
Quaylles iid. a pece at moste,
Snypes after iii. a id.
Perttryges at iid. a pece,
Redeshankes idd. °

Bytters (i.e. Bitterns) xiid.
Fesauntes xiid.

Reys (i.e. Ruffs and Reeves) iid.

a pece.

Sholardes vid. a pece.
Kyrlewes xiid. a pece.
Pacokes xiid. a pece.
See-Pyes (no price).
Wegions at idd. the pece.
Knottes id. a pece.
Dottrells id. a pece.
Bustardes (no price).
Ternes after iii. a id.

Great byrdes after iiii. a id.
Small byrdes after xii. for iid.
Larkys after xii. for iid.”

This extract is especially interesting as throwing light incidentally on the condition of the country ;

the unreclaimed state of the land is shewn by the abundance and cheapness of the wading birds.

Woodcocks

EXPENSES OF REARING IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII. 19

“In the year 1536, Henry VIII. issued a proclamation in order to preserve
the partridges, pheasants, and herons ‘from his palace at Westminster to St. Giles-
in-the-Fields, and from thence to Islington, Hampstead, Highgate, and Hornsey
Park.’ Any person, of whatever rank, who should presume to kill, or in any wise
molest these birds, was to be thrown into prison, and visited by such other
punishments as to the King should seem meet.

“Some interesting particulars in regard to pheasants are furnished by the
‘Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry VIII.’ For example, under date xvj™
Nov. 1532, we have:

*“*Ttm the same daye paied to the fesaunt breder in rewarde ixS. iiijd.
“*«Ttm the xxv daye paied to the preste the fesaunt breder
at Elthm in rewarde ij corons a ss ws sa ix8. iiijd.

* And in December of the same year:

“<Ttm the xxijd. daye’ paied to the french Preste the fesaunt
breder for to bye him a gowne and other necesarys_... xl.’

“From these entries it would appear that even at this date some trouble
and expense was incurred in rearing pheasants. No allusion, however, is made
to their being shot. They must have been taken in a net or snare, or killed
with a hawk. The last-named mode is indicated from another source :*

“‘Ttem, a Fesant kylled with the Goshawke.
“<A notice, two Fesants and two Partridges killed with the hawks.’

“As a rule they are only referred to as being ‘brought in,’ the bearer
receiving a gratuity for his trouble.

“ “Jan” 1536-7. Ithi. geuen to Hunte yeoman of the pultry,

bringing to hir gée two qwicke (.e. live) phesants ... vijs. vjd.
“< Ap" 1537. Iti. geuen to Grene the ptrich taker bringing

a cowple of Phesaunts to my lady’s grace = a iijs. ixd.
“* Jan. 1537-8. Iti. geuen to my lady Carow’s s’ufit bringin

a qwicke Phesaunt ans i ni vind win ijs.
“<Jan. 1548-4. Itii. geuen to Hawkyn, s’uiite of Hertford

bringing a phesant and ptrichest+ ... a as = iijs. itijd.’

at a penny, and snipes at three a penny, contrast strongly with partridges at twopence and pheasants and
peacocks at twelvepence each. Nor is the change in the degree of estimation in which the birds are now
held less remarkable. Curlews, herons, and bitterns, which are now scarcely valued as edible, ranked
equal to pheasants and peacocks, and were three or four times the value of a grouse, whilst a fishy sea-gull
was worth two or three chicken or one woodcock.

* “* Extracts from the Household and Privy Purse Accounts of the L’estranges of Hunstanton, 1519—
1578.’ (Trans. Roy. Soc. Antiq. 1833.)

+ “The Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary, 1536—1544.’ (Hdited by Sir F. Madden, 1831.)”

D 2

20 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

“In a survey of the possessions of the Abbey of Glastonbury made in
1539, mention is made of a ‘game’ of sixteen pheasants in the woods at Meare,
a manor near Glastonbury belonging to the Abbey.

“The value set upon pheasants and partridges at various periods, as shown by
the laws fixing penalties for their destruction, seems to have fluctuated considerably.

“By a statute passed in the eleventh year of the reign of Henry VII. it
was forbidden ‘to take pheasants or partridges with engines in another’s ground
without licence in pain of ten pound, to be divided between the owner of . the
ground and the prosecutor. By 23 Eliz. c. 10, ‘None should kill or take
pheasants or partridges by night in pain of 20s. a pheasant, and 10s. a partridge,
or one month’s imprisonment, and bound with sureties not to offend again in the
like kind’ By 1 Jac. I. c. 27, ‘No person should kill or take any pheasant,
partridge, (&c.), or take or destroy the eggs of pheasants, partridges, (&c.), in
pain of 20s., or imprisonment for every fowl or egg, and to find sureties in £20
not to offend in the like kind.’ Under the same statute, no person was permitted
‘to buy or sell any pheasant or partridge, upon pain or forfeit of 20s. for every
pheasant, and 10s. for every partridge.’ By 7 Jac. I. c. 11, ‘every person having -
hawked at or destroyed any pheasant or partridge between the Ist of July and’
last of August, forfeited 40s. for every time so hawking, and 20s. for every
pheasant or partridge so destroyed or taken.’ Lords of manors and their servants
might take pheasants or partridges in their own grounds or precincts in the day-
time between Michaelmas and Christmas. But every person of a mean condition
-having killed or taken any pheasant or partridge, forfeited 20s. for each one so
killed, and had to find surety in £20 not to offend so again.”

In Ireland, writes Mr. W. Thompson, in his natural history of that country,
“The period of its introduction is unknown to me, but in the year 1589 it was
remarked to be common.’ Fynes Moryson, who was in Ireland from 1599 to
1603, observes that there are “such plenty of pheasants as I have known sixty
served up at one feast, and abound much more with rails, but partridges are
somewhat scarce.”

In Scotland the pheasant does not appear to have been preserved at a very
early period. Mr. R. Gray, in his work on “The Birds of the West of Scotland,”
says: ‘The first mention of the pheasant in old Scots Acts is in one dated 8th

June, 1594, in which year a keen sportsman occupied the Scottish throne. He
might almost have been called ‘James the protector’ of all kinds of game. In

the aforesaid year he ‘ordained that quhatsumever person or persones at ony time
hereafter sall happen to slay deir, harts, phesants, foulls, partricks, or uther wyld
foule quhatsumever, ather with gun, croce bow, dogges, halks, or girnes, or be
uther ingine quhatsumever, or that beis found schutting with ony gun therein,’ &.,
&ec., shall pay the usual ‘hundreth punds,’ &c.”

DISTRIBUTION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 21

The distribution of the pheasant over Great Britain and Ireland at the
present time is very general, it being found in all parts of the kingdom where
there is congenial shelter and some slight attempt at preservation and protection,
without which it would soon be extirpated by poachers and its numerous natural
enemies.

It is abundant even in the most populous counties, and is not all uncommon
in the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis. In my own garden, six miles
from St. Paul’s, a pheasant from the neighbouring woods, where they are preserved,
will occasionally put in an appearance and feed with the fowls without alarm; but
it is in the well-wooded and highly preserved districts of England that these birds
most abound, and where they are excessively numerous. “The pheasant,” writes Mr.
Sterland, in his “ Birds of Sherwood Forest,’ “abounds on all the estates in the
forest district, and to such an extent that few would credit the immense numbers. |
They are almost as tame as barndoor fowls, and may be seen on the skirts of the
various plantations. Carefully tended and fed, and all their natural enemies
destroyed, they become so accustomed to the presence of man that in many parts
they will hardly take the trouble to get out of the way, and are scarcely entitled
to the appellation of wild. Under circumstances so favourable they multiply rapidly,
but a natural limit seems to be set to their increase, and frequently, where they
are most abundant, large numbers are found dead without apparent cause; these
are always exceedingly fat and their plumage in the glossiest condition; they seem
to drop down and die without a struggle. I have had them brought to me in this
state, and have found their flesh plump and of good colour, and every feather
smooth and perfect.” I should rather incline to attribute the death in these cases
to apoplexy, arising from over-feeding on maize and stimulating artificial food,
than to any epidemic disease arising from overcrowding, as this attacks the young
and destroys them long before they arrive at maturity.

“In Norfolk,” writes Mr. Stevenson, in his admirable work on the birds of
that country, “there are many portions where the pheasant exists in a perfectly
wild state, and thrives well under the protection of the game laws, both soil and
climate being alike favourable. It is in such districts, almost exclusively, that
one still meets with the pure Phasianus colchicus, free from any trace of the
ring-necked or Chinese cross in its plumage, but offering at the same time a poor
contrast to those hybrid birds both in size and weight. Besides the thick under-
growth in woods and plantations, pheasants are particularly partial to low damp
situations, such as alder and osier carrs, by the river side. In this country, also,
stragglers from some neighbouring coverts are not unfrequently found on the snipe
marshes surrounding the broads, where the sportsman, following up his dog at a
‘running point,’ is suddenly startled by the whirr of a noble ‘long-tail,’ when never
dreaming of any larger game than rails or water-hens.”

22 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

In Scotland it is very generally distributed in the western counties, from
Wigtown in the south to Sutherland in the north. Mr. R. Gray, in his “ Birds
of the West of Scotland,” writes: “In the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond, it
may occasionally be noticed on the mountain sides, at a considerable elevation,
sometimes as far up as twelve hundred feet. In Shemore glen, I have seen male
birds rise from the heath among the rocks, and wheeling round direct their flight
down the valley with extraordinary speed. Very different indeed is the flight of
these strong-winged natives of the glen from that of over-fed birds in wooded
preserves; and as one bird after another shoots past in high air, one can hardly
resist the impression that, if left to its own selection, the pheasant would adapt
itself wonderfully to the drawbacks of its adopted country. Mr. Elwes informs
me that he has frequently seen pheasants in Islay get up in the most unlikely
places, such as an open moor, miles away from any covert or corn-field, and
sometimes in a wet bog, where one would be more likely to find a snipe. On
that island, where it was introduced about thirty years ago by Mr. Campbell,
the pheasant is now not uncommon, and appears to be on the increase. In the
Outer Hebrides it has likewise been introduced into Lewis by Sir James Matheson,
who has obligingly informed me that, since its introduction twelve or fifteen years
ago, it has become fairly established, although it has not increased to the extent.
that might have been expected in a more favourable locality. ‘The deep drains
in the peat moss,’ writes Sir James, ‘are supposed to be the cause of the death
of the young chicks by their falling into them. For some years at first there
was a want of covert for pheasants, but they are now better off in this respect, and

are increasing gradually. Some of the first brood wandered about sixteen miles to
the west side of the island, it is supposed in quest of covert.’”

The introduction of the pheasant into the northern districts of Scotland is,
however, of comparatively recent date, for in the sixth edition of Moubray’s
“Domestic Poultry,” 1880, it is stated: “In 1826, a solitary cock pheasant made
his appearance as far north as a valley of the Grampians, being the first that had
been seen in that northern region;’’ and my old friend, Andrew Halliday, told
me that he remembered perfectly the introduction of the birds into the coverts
near Banff belonging to the Earl of Fife, in which locality, Thomas Edwards, the
Scottish naturalist, whose life has been so graphically written by Mr. Smiles, tells us
it now seems to thrive very well, and is a beautiful ornament to parks and woods.

In Ireland it is also abundant, the common species being, according to Mr.
W. Thompson, the well-known natural historian of the island, frequent in the various
wooded parts, at least where it has been protected and preserved. ‘“In the counties
of Antrim and Down,’ remarks this writer, “the ring-necked variety—considered to
have originally proceeded from a cross between the common and true ring-necked
pheasant (P. torquatus)—is not uncommon.”

DISTRIBUTION IN EUROPE, NEW ZEALAND, ETC. 23

On the continent of Europe the pheasant is widely diffused throughout almost
all the congenial localities in the south and central portions, where any effort is
made in favour of its protection. In Scandinavia it has only recently been
successfully introduced ; in 1867 we were informed by Mr. L. Lloyd, in his “Game
Birds of Sweden and Norway,” that it is not found, although attempts on a large
scale were made to introduce it by the late King Oscar; but from the severity of
the climate, and from the country swarming with vermin and birds of prey of all
sorts, the experiment, in Mr. Lloyd’s opinion, was not likely to be attended with
success. Since that date the attempt has been successfully made by Mr. Oscar
Dickson, who, in 1873, reared seven or eight hundred birds; these have done well,
for, in the Morgenblad of November 10, 1877, it is recorded that “Mr. Oscar
Dickson and party shot in one day, on his property Bokedal, in Sweden, ninety
pheasants, one deer, one hare, and one woodcock. There were five guns.” And the
same journal mentions that a brace of pheasants lived at full liberty on an estate
in the neighbourhood of Christiania during the winter of 1876-7 without being fed
or taken care of, and that they hatched in the summer of 1877, and reared four
full-grown young ones. A brace more were let loose early in the spring of the
same year, and also hatched and reared in the open. The first brace escaped from
a pen, and nobody knew what had become of them. It was supposed that they
were either frozen to death during the severe winter, had died of starvation, or had
fallen an easy prey to foxes, cats, or hawks. But they survived, and found both
shelter and food for themselves.

In New Zealand, the Great Britain of the southern hemisphere, the introduc-
tion of the pheasant has been a great success; so much so, that in a single season,
that of 1871, six thousand birds were bagged in the immediate neighbourhood of the
city of Auckland. Pheasants were first introduced into the province of Auckland
about twenty years since, seven males and two females, the only survivors of two
dozen shipped in China, comprising the original stock of the Chinese species. At
the same time a number of the common species were liberated in another part of
the colony. These were supplemented by six more Chinese birds in 1856. Both
species have multiplied exceedingly.

The Chinese pheasant was also introduced by the Portuguese into the island
of St. Helena in the year 1518, and it is stated to have increased in numbers to
a very considerable extent; but we are informed by Mr. Elliott that the present
representatives of the original stock differ somewhat from their ancestors, both in
the colour and markings of the plumage, the effect of the change of climate acting
on the bird during many generations.

In the countries nearest to the locality from whence the common pheasant
is supposed to have been derived, it is not, strange to say, abundant; thus the
Rev. H. B. Tristram informs us that it does not appear to be known in Syria.

24 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS.

In Greece, the Hon. T. L. Powys, writing in The Jbis, informs us that “The
only localities in which I have seen pheasants in these parts were: once on the
Luro river, near Prevesa, in March, 1857, on which occasion I only saw one, the
bird having never previously been met with in that part of the country, and again
in December of the same year, in the forests near the mouth of the river Drin, in
Albania, where it is comparatively common, and where several fell to our guns. In
this latter locality, the pheasant’s habitat seems to be confined to a radius of from
twenty to thirty miles to the north, east, and south of the town of Alessio—a
district for the most part densely wooded and well watered, with occasional tracts of
cultivated ground, Indian corn being apparently the principal produce, and forming,
with the berries of the privet (which abounds throughout Albania), the chief food
of the present species. We heard many more pheasants than we saw, as the woods
were thick and of great extent, our dogs wild, and we lost a great deal of time in
making circuits to cross or avoid the numerous small but deep streams which inter-
sect the country in every direction. This species is particularly abundant on the
shores of the Gulf of Salonica, about the mouth of the river Vardar; and I have
been informed, on good authority, that pheasants are also to be found in the woods
of Vhrakori, in Atolia, about midway between the gulfs of Lepanto and Arta.”
With regard to the present distribution of the species, Mr. Gould, in his “Birds
of Asia,” states that the late Mr. G. T. Vigne shot it in a wild state at the Lake of
Apollonia, thirty-five miles from Broussa, to the south of the sea of Marmora, and
that the late Mr. Atkinson found it on the Kezzil-a-Gatch, and the country to the
west of the river Ilia.

CHAPTER III.

MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.
ay WN
a f oss Vy FORMATION OF COVERTS.

ey \ ; EFORE any satisfactory progress can be made in the pre-
servation of pheasants, the existence of good and well-
protected coverts is indispensable; and where these do not
naturally exist, the very first action of the game preserver
must be to effect their plantation on a scale commensurate
with his desires. This necessarily cannot be done without
expense, but a large stock of pheasants cannot be secured,
save under the most exceptional circumstances, without a
very considerable outlay.

Some few years since the subject of the formation of coverts
for pheasants was discussed in a very exhaustive manner in
the columns of The Field, and some admirable practical letters, detailing the
experiences of the writers, appeared in that paper; these are worthy of the most
attentive consideration, and I have great pleasure in availing myself of the
opportunity of quoting largely from them. One of the most practical of the writers,
Mr. R. Carr Ellison, of Dunston Hill, near Gateshead, strongly advocates the
formation of pheasant roosts of spruce and silver firs, as affording the birds absolute
security against the attacks of night poachers. He writes:—“ A number of country
gentlemen who do not consider field sports of primary importance, feel it right to
abstain from the preserving of pheasants. They see that the temptation which
these birds offer, when perched upon naked larches and other trees, at night,
is too strong to be resisted by many a lad or working man in the vicinity,
who, but for this particular allurement to evil, might go on respectably and quietly
enough. They know that their duty towards their own sons is to keep them out
of needless temptations, and they are unwilling to expose the sons of other and
poorer men to trials which experience shows they too often cannot resist Some
have forbidden all night watching of these birds, trusting them entirely to the
protection of the pines and firs scattered in their plantations, and in the branches

E

26 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

of which it is impossible for any one to see the pheasants which happen to select
them as a roosting-place. Now, I have for twenty-two years preeerved these birds
in very considerable numbers without any night watching, and in a country where
all my neighbours have been repeatedly visited by gangs of poachers coming
sometimes from considerable distances, as well as by occasional depredators of the
vicinity. I resolved to reject all night watching, and one of the first things that
I did, as a very young man, was to plant ten acres of spruce fir and Scotch pine
in a central and sheltered part of the estate, which might serve as an impregnable
roosting-place for pheasants. This was thirty years ago and more. But, at ten
years of age, the plantation was already of great service, and at fifteen was
invaluable. As it has been regularly thinned, it is now as good as ever. A number
of birch-trees were intermixed, which were very useful in drawing up and hastening
the growth of the spruces without exhausting the soil, as too great a multitude of
firs would have done. Nor do the pheasants resort to the birch at night as they
do to some other trees, larch especially, because they find that its branches are not
sufficiently horizontal to afford a commodious perch.

“Ten years later I formed a second pheasant-roost of two acres in extent, very
near my house, and of this I have had the full benefit for many years past. It is
generally full of pheasants, and not one of them is visible to the keenest eye in
the clearest moonlight. It consists of spruce and silver fir, regularly and unsparingly
thinned to keep the trees in health and vigour. We never think of night watching,
even though guns be heard on adjoining estates, and the poachers have long given
us up in despair. This lesser stronghold is kept sacred from the guns of sportsmen,
who are sure to find the cock pheasants dispersed through all the other plantations
during the daytime. The first thing the birds do on a winter’s morning, after
pecking up a few beans near their roost, is to wander in search of their natural wild
food in the woodlands, of which food the tuberous root of the celandine, or wood-
ranunculus, forms here a principal part. But, besides the remains of acorns and
beech-nuts, they feed, I believe, much on the fallen keys of the ash and sycamore,
on hips and haws, and on tender blades of grass, besides innumerable worms, eggs
of slugs, and larve of insects. Tempted by these dainties, and in frosty weather
even by the crisp green leaves of the holly, the cock pheasant will leave his
beans and barley, and betake himself to freer haunts every fine day, and there
the sportsman will find him; but, if his life be spared, he seldom fails to return
at night to his warm roost among the spruces, only with the advance of spring
will he quit it; for habit has made him luxurious as to his nights’ quarters, and
more sensitive of cold than less lucky pheasants.

“The Scotch pine is not nearly so tempting to the pheasant at night as the
spruce and silver firs, because its branches are not sufficiently horizontal ; yet, on
dry hungry soils, it must be largely intermixed, since the firs are not to be

FORMATION OF COVERTS. 27

depended on to flourish on such ground. In some cases, a stronghold may be
formed entirely of hollies, Portugal laurels, and yews. For hen pheasants it will
be excellent; but the cocks, which prefer to roost higher, should have a few firs or pines
close at hand for their accommodation. All food should be given in or near to these
secure nocturnal retreats.”

Respecting the conversion of existing mixed plantations into night coverts
for pheasants, the same gentleman remarks that “any plantation containing a due
proportion of pines, or of spruce and silver fir, can be readily made a secure roosting-
place for pheasants, if conveniently situated for the purpose, and not too much exposod
to violent winds. All that is necessary is to cut out the larches as rapidly as can be
done without letting in the wind too suddenly. The oaks, ashes, beeches, &., may
be allowed to stand wherever they do not injure a thriving pine or fir. The larches
only are a dangerous temptation to the pheasants at roosting time. Their perfectly
horizontal branches, and the considerable amount of shelter which their numerous
twigs and regular head afford to the birds, induce many to perch in them; whereas
young oaks, ashes, &e., attract very few indeed. If the plantation consisted entirely
of resinous trees, so that none of the last-mentioned hardwood trees are present, then
we have to consider what is to be done to fill up the vacancies. If the soil be
tolerably moist and fertile, I would recommend that all the larger openings be filled
with the best and strongest plants of silver fir that can be procured—say from two
to three feet in height. Let a cluster of three or more of these be planted in pits,
carefully prepared with spade and pickaxe, about five feet asunder, in the centre of
every opening; for it is a pity to waste such plants in closer proximity to tall pines
and spruces. If there be room for only one silver fir, let only one be planted. This
species is not very liable to be nibbled by hares and rabbits if protected for the first
year. Let the branches of the felled larches, with which the ground must still be
half covered, be drawn around these young plants without delay, for very little will
suffice to turn the enemy aside.

“Silver firs are very preferable to spruces or pines for filling up vacancies, for
these latter, when drawn up slender by shade and shelter, are sure to be ruined by
hares and rabbits, whereas the silver fir is of a different habit, and will not be
drawn up in the same manner, nor is its taste so attractive to the marauders. It
also bears being removed large from the nursery, with very little injury or check to its
growth. Consequently, large plants of it, with earth adhering, though somewhat costly,
are well worth their price to the planter who knows where and how to use them.
Around these, and nearer to the tall pines and’ spruces, may be tried plants of the
holly-leaved berberis and common laurel, which may not improbably succeed.
Immediately under the pines and spruces it is useless to plant anything. The only
covert to be obtained there is from heaps of branches left upon the ground as often
as the trees are thinned. And this should be done almost annually, to insure

E 2

28 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

plenty of room to the best and most thriving amongst them, whose side branches
will then gradually become more or less pendulous, and so will afford far more shelter
than could be obtained from a larger number of trees standing too thick. Pheasants
in a covert like this, need no great quantity of shelter upon the ground, for they
sit, even during the daytime, chiefly in the tree-tops. They bask there, on the south
side of the summit of a spruce or pine, in the sun’s rays, with great delight ; and
in heavy snow-storms whole days will often pass when they never descend to feed,
but prefer to sit quiet, eating the green spines of these resinous trees (in the manner of
the black grouse and capercailzie) when crispened by the frost, and depending upon
snow by way of beverage. I have strongly advocated the spruce and silver firs as
affording the most tempting perch to the birds at nightfall; still, be it understood, that
the Scotch pine, pinaster, Weymouth pine (P. Jaricio) and others are all excellent. All
that is needed is a little generalship and foresight in pheasant preservers, and a deter-
mination to confide in these resources, rather than in the expensive, dangerous, and
inefficient practice of employing night watchers.”

Commenting on these suggestions, another correspondent writes, “I am not
aware that the practical advantages and excellence of the plan of planting large
clumps of squares of spruce, either alone or blended with silver firs, and mixing, or
not, a few deciduous trees with them, for the special purpose of forming pheasant
roosts, have ever been so fully and perspicuously set forth as explained in the
previous article. I could quote an instance of extensive coverts having been plant-d
on a similar principle, save that oaks were planted in lieu of birch, with the
ultimate .view of affording these birds the opportunity of preening their plumes
whilst perched on the topmost boughs, and enjoying themselves in this secluded
retreat during bright weather, to which luxury, under such circumstances, they are
very partial. Im these cases the Spanish chesnut tree might sometimes perhaps be
found an eligible substitute for either the birch or the oak. The larch undoubtedly
is a favourite roosting tree with the pheasant, so much so indeed that I have seen
odd ones roosting in larches growing within a few yards only of the impenetrable
spruce grove. Besides being horizontal, the branches of the larch are rough,
affording good foothold, and when the tree is properly grown are but at short
distances one above the other, whilst, the collaterals being numerous, the tree in
reality affords far more shelter than it appears capable of yielding, though, of
course, far too little to conceal the bird from the prying eye of the night poacher.
Pheasants are remarkably fond of ‘hips;’ and if the wild rose tree which pro-
duces them be kept low by a proper attention to pruning, not only can the birds
reach the fruit easily, but the branches stool out and afford admirable covert. Cock
pheasants are naturally of a vagrant turn, and at times will ‘leave their beans and
barley,’ in order to indulge in this their favourite propensity to rove in search of
their natural wild food in the woodlands, hedgerows, &c. Early in December last

FORMATION OF COVERTS. 29

I received a brace of remarkably fine young cock pheasants shot on a manor where
the best artificial food is abundantly provided, yet the crop of one of them
contained ten full-sized acorns. Apart, too, from their utility as being by far the
warmest, most sheltered, and the only thoroughly poacher-proof night coverts for’
these timid birds, which at roosting-time usually court the densest sylvan shade—
these evergreen groves possess the signal advantage of harmonising well with, and
adding singular beauty to, the surrounding scenery; whilst the internal gloom
—lucus a non lucendo—pervading them, has also its own peculiar charms, though
it be of a sombre character.”

It may be remarked that evergreen night coverts are not so essential south
of the Trent, owing to the vigorous growth of underwood in the southern counties,
which renders it almost impossible for poachers to traverse the coverts by night,
even during bright moonlight; so that pheasants roosting on deciduous trees are
much safer than they would be in the north, where underwood is comparatively
feeble and scanty.

Writing to me on this subject, Mr. Carr Ellison adds: “In the extreme
north of England, and in Scotland, underwood of bramble grows feebly, except
along warm southerly slopes. Nevertheless nature introduces another covert plant
of great value, which fears neither cold shade, nor open and windy exposure—
namely, the native tussock grass of moor-edges and upland pastures, Aira cespitosa,
popularly called “ bull-fronts,’’ of which most of our exposed woodlands are full.
It is easily transplanted, or propagated by: seed, on which latter both pheasants
and black game feed. It is a favourite covert for hares, affording perfect
protection from the cold winds that sweep through plantations destitute of under-
wood, like too many in the north.

“Yet these apparently unpromising strips or clumps of bare stems are often
frequented by fine broods of self-reared pheasants, thanks to the bull-fronts and
bracken.”

If it be desired to see the pheasants in the neighbourhood of the mansion, it
should be borne in mind that the shrubberies of rhododendron so frequently seen
skirting lawns and pleasure grounds are not frequented by pheasants like those of
yew, holly, and privet, chiefly because no fallen berries are to be found underneath
them. But if a handful of barley, peas, or beans be thrown from time to time
among the more open and taller rhododendrons, the pheasants will soon learn to
resort to them, after which some of the same fare may be cast into the thicker
parts, where the birds will soon find it. In this way our beautiful rhododendron
thickets near the garden and mansion may be utilised for pheasants more than
heretofore.

The late Mr. Charles Waterton, who protected every bird in his domain,
published the following details of hir method of preserving the pheasants at Walton

30 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

Hall :—* This bird has a capacious stomach, and requires much nutriment, while
its timidity soon causes it to abandon those places which are disturbed. It is fond
of acorns, beech mast, the berries of the hawthorn, the seeds of the wild rose, and
the tubers of the Jerusalem artichoke. As long as these, and the corn dropped
in the harvest, can be procured, the pheasant will do very well. In the spring
it finds abundance of nourishment in the sprouting leaves of young clover; but
from the commencement of the new year till the vernal period, their wild food.
affords a very scanty supply, and the bird will be exposed to all the evils of the
Vagrant Act, unless you can contrive to keep it at home by an artificial supply of
food. Boiled potatoes (which the pheasant prefers much to those in the raw state)
and beans are, perhaps, the two most nourishing things that can be offered in the
depth of winter. Beans in the end are cheaper than all the smaller kinds of grain,
because the little birds, which usually swarm at the place where pheasants are fed,
cannot swallow them; and, if you conceal the beans under yew or holly bushes, or
under the lower branches of the spruce fir tree, they will be out of the way of the
rooks and ringdoves. About two roods of the thousand-headed cabbage are a most
valuable acquisition to the pheasant preserve. You sow a few ounces of seed in
April, and transplant the young plants 2ft. asunder, in the month of June. By
the time that the harvest is all in, these cabbages will afford a most excellent
aliment to the pheasant, and are particularly serviceable when the ground is deeply
covered with snow. I often think that pheasants are unintentionally destroyed by
farmers during the autumnal seed-time. They have a custom of steeping the wheat
in arsenic water. This must be injurious to birds which pick up the corn remaining
on the surface of the mould. I sometimes find pheasants, at this period, dead in
the plantations, and now and then take them up weak and languid, and quite
‘unable to fly. I will mention here a little robbery by the pheasants, which has
entirely deprived me of a gratification I used formerly to experience in an evening’s
saunter down the vale. They have completely exterminated the grasshoppers. For
these last fourteen years I have not once heard the voice of this merry summer
charmer in the party. In order to render useless all attempts of the nocturnal
poacher to destroy the pheasants, it is absolutely necessary that a place of security
should be formed. I know of no position more appropriate than a piece of level
ground at the bottom of the hill, bordered by a gentle stream. About three acres
of this, sowed with whins, and surrounded by a holly fence to keep the cattle out,
would be the very thing. In the centre of it, for the space of one acre, there ought
to be planted spruce fir trees, about 14ft. asunder. Next to the larch, this species
of tree is generally preferred by the pheasants for their roosting-place; and it is
quite impossible that the poachers can shoot them in these trees. Moreover magpies
and jays will always resort to them at nightfall; and they never fail to give the
alarm on the first appearance of an enemy. Many a time has the magpie been of

FORMATION OF COVERTS. 31

essential service to me in a night excursion after poachers. If there be no party
wall, an eye ought to be kept from time to time on the neighbouring hedges.
Poachers are apt to set horsehair snares in them; and these villanous nooses give
the pheasants apoplexy. Six or seven dozen of wooden pheasants, nailed on the
branches of trees in the surrounding woods, cause unutterable vexation and loss of
ammunition to these amateurs of nocturnal plunder. Small clumps of hollies and
yew trees, with holly hedges round them, are of infinite service, when planted at
intervals of one hundred and fifty yards. To these the pheasants fly on the sudden
approach of danger during the day, and skulk there till the alarm is over.”

It is sometimes desirable to supply temporarily the want of ground covert for
young birds in fir plantations where there is only short grass. The readiest mode
of doing this is to use the trimmings of hedges, tops of trees, and boughs; and if fir
plantations are numerous there is little trouble in getting plenty of tops of trees,
these should be cut about a yard long and stuck in holes made with a crowbar,
in clumps, leaving room between each for a beater to walk. The high grass soon
grows in amongst the sticks, and makes very good ground covert, which will last
some years; or the roots of young spruce trees may be bared on one side and cut,
when the trees may be pulled down into a nearly horizontal position, and kept
so by filling up the hole with the earth dug out.

The vignette at the end of this chapter represents the head of a hen pheasant
with a singularly deformed beak, the upper mandible having passed between the
sides of the lower jaw. The bird was found dead, in a very emaciated state.

CHAPTER IV.

MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES (CONTINUED).

ala FEEDING IN COVERIS.

HE FOOD necessary to keep together a large stock of

aig ‘pheasants during the winter months, and prevent them
" straying to adjoining preserves, may be supplied in various

modes. The birds may. be hand-fed day by day in the

same manner as domestic fowls; or they may be fed from

troughs which are so constructed as to prevent the food
being accessible to smaller birds; or they may be sup-
plied with small stacks of unthrashed corn, from which
to help themselves.

If fed by hand, a fixed place is necessary, to
which the pheasants must be accustomed to resort at a
particular hour, otherwise the sparrows and other small
birds will have far more than their fair share of the grain,
particularly in severe weather when the ground is frozen
hard. Fed in this manner, the birds become almost as tame as farm-yard fowls.
In order to accustom them to one spot, the following plan of procedure, which
is from the pen of a very practical correspondent, may be adopted: “At the
end of September or earlier, according to the season, carry a few bundles of
beans and about as many bundles of barley, in the straw, to the spots in the
coverts which are selected for feeding places; by watching these bundles it will
be soon found when they have attracted the notice of the birds, and the moment
it is observed that they have been attacking them in earnest, the better plan is
to pull them apart, so as to enable the corn to be found more readily. When the
corn is beginning to decrease, I take to feeding from the hand, daily; and the
plan I adopt, in order to ensure regularity, is this: I allow one man to distribute
at the feeding-place, among the decaying barley-straw and beanhaulm, a small
bagful of beans and barley, as early as he can find his way to the spot in the
morning, concealing the corn as well as he is able; later in the day, say towards

FEEDING IN COVERTS. 33

three or four in the afternoon, he goes again and deposits in the same way a mixture
of barley and white peas, concealing the corn as before. In this way I scarcely
ever lose a grain of corn from intrusion by ‘small depredators.’ | Woodpigeons
and jays will sometimes intrude; but, with attention in concealing the corn, and
by adopting punctuality in feeding, you may prevent any waste worth notice.
Besides, by what I call ‘feeling the pulse’ of your coverts, by observing how
your birds come up to their food, you easily discover when anything is-going wrong:
as the least disturbance will make pheasants shy, and will be enough to put your
keeper on the alert to discover the cause.”

When fed by hand in this manner, a great variety of food may be used.
Maize is certainly one of the best; weight for weight it is usually much cheaper
than barley, is better relished by the pheasants, is far more fattening, and it
possesses the great recommendation of not being so readily devoured by the
sparrows, especially if the large coarse and cheaper varieties are purchased. A
correspondent, who has kept pheasants for many years, and taken much trouble
to ascertain their preference for different kinds of food, states, as the result of
his experience, that “they prefer maize or Indian corm to any other food
that can be given to them. I have frequently given the pheasants that come
regularly to my window to be fed equal parts of Indian corn, peas, small horse-
beans, wheat, barley, and oats, and they invariably take them in the order in which I
have written them. I have also frequently done the same with those I keep shut
up for laying, and always with the same results. Pheasants that I have had from
elsewhere to put with them in confinement, and that have never seen maize, take
to it in a couple of days, and then, like the others, will eat nothing else so long
as they can get it; and if I try them .with the mixture above named I find all
the other grain neglected. The young pheasants at the coops begin to eat it
before they are as large as partridges, and then entirely neglect the barley, &c. I
never see pheasants that are kept up in better condition than my own, and they
have nothing but Indian corn, a few turnip leaves, and clods of turf to pull to
pieces. Another great advantage of maize is that small birds cannot steal it, with
the exception of the tomtit, and though almost the smallest he holds the corn
with one foot and hammers away like a miniature woodpecker, commencing at the
part of the grain that is attached to the stalk, finding that the only road in. It
is but a very small part of each corn that he is able to eat, but it seems to
possess great attraction for him. There are six or eight of these little birds live
constantly near my house at this season; and though chaffinches, blackbirds, and
thrushes all try their best at the maize, they soon give it up hopelessly. Rooks
take it greedily, and were it not for an occasional ball from the air gun they
would rob the pheasants of every grain.”

. Feeding troughs, which open with the weight of the pheasant when standing
F .

34 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

on an attached bar in front of the corn, are not extensively used. The objections
to them are, in the first place, their expense, some fifteen shillings to thirty
shillings each, which becomes a serious item when many are required ; their liability
to get out of order; and, lastly,. the unlimited supply they afford to the feeding
bird, which crams itself to repletion without any exercise, and is disinclined to
seek food on its own account.

Unquestionably, the best mode of feeding pheasants is by the use of small
stacks of unthreshed grain or beans; but even this may be done in a wrong as
well as a right manner. My friend, Mr. W. Lort, an enthusiastic practical
sportsman, makes the following suggestions: ‘Pheasants may be easily fed from
small thatched stacks made with bundles of different kinds of grain. The only
operation then required—pulling a bundle or two from the stack and cutting
the bands—may be performed’ every two or three days; though, by the way, I
must say I like someone to see my pheasants every day; and those who want
game will find it to their interest to have it well attended to. If weight and
bulk are objects, a foot or two of the straw can be cut from each sheaf or bundle
of corn before it is taken to the stacks. The ears should be put inside, or half
the corn will be taken by small birds; and the bottom of the stack should stand
at least a foot from the ground. I use as food in winter peas, beans, barley,
buckwheat, wheat, and a few oats, and many other little delicacies, such as boiled
potatoes, ground artichokes, decayed apples, damaged raisins, &c.; and, with all
these dainties, they will stray twice in the year—when the acorns fall, and at or
just before breeding-time.”

The following most complete series of suggestions on feeding pheasants in
coverts is from the pen of Mr. James: Barnes, of Exmouth. It is especially
valuable as giving practical directions for the formation of catchpools for water,
without which no amount of feeding will keep pheasants from straying in dry
weather; and it also contains suggestions for the formation of huts, which are
worthy of the careful consideration of every preserver on a large scale. Mr.
Barnes writes:—“ Pheasants are well known to require assistance with food of
some kind in winter to keep them in good condition, and to have a propensity to
ramble away and expose themselves to the depredations of trespassers. Buckwheat
should be sown adjacent to their coverts, cut when ripe and intermixed with
barley, also in straw, and placed in little stacks in or near their coverts, and
spread or shaken about at intervals throughout the winter. What is still better
to my mind, is to place their food in huts. A pheasant hut is an open shed,
with the roof fixed on four posts, with a pole all round for rafter plate, the
rafters of rough poles tied on with withies, thatched first with long faggots tied
up with three or four withies of brushwood with all the leaves on, and allowed
to hang down or over the rafter plate two feet or thereabouts. The thatch used

FEEDING IN COVERTS. 35

should be small brushwood, reeds, or straw. An open trellis floor of poles should
be raised two feet from the ground, and on this the corn in straw should be laid
for the pheasants to help themselves. In these huts the pheasants find shelter,
comfort, and’ cover in rough, wintry, and severe weather. Care should be taken to
have plenty of dry dust on the floor underneath for the pheasants to bask in. This
is a most essential provision—quite as much so for pheasants as for our poultry—
for it is quite as natural for them to dust to clean themselves. It is a fact within
easy observation how the pheasant searches out the base of an old dry, dusty, pollard
tree or hedge bank to bask in the dust. Besides, every grain of corn that falls
through the open feeding floor is searched for and found in this dust. Underneath
and on the dusty floor is a safe and convenient place, sheltered from severe frost,
&ec., to receive any other kind of food, such as refuse potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes,
mangolds, swede turnips, cabbage, Spanish chesnuts, acorns, beechnuts, a few raisins,
Indian corn, or anything else you wish the pheasants to have. Such changes of food
cast about their feeding sheds are sure to secure them keeping pretty well to covert,’
particularly if they have water at hand. I have seen large expenditures for well
digging or for the conveyance of water by ram and pipes from some stream at a
distance; but the best and simplest plan to keep up a general supply of water for
the season the pheasant is in covert, is certainly the shallow catchpool system. In
my humble opinion, it is the most natural, convenient, and inexpensive plan of all
I have seen or had anything to do with in my time. I will explain what I mean
by catchpools: Choose any little slope or valley in high and dry coverts where
some command may be had of the surrounding surface water after rain; scoop out
a hole in the earth’s surface in the shape of a spoon or bowl, sloping gradually all
round to the centre and deepest part, which need not be deeper than from eighteen,
inches to three feet, according to width and length; the edges, to admit the water
running into it freely, must be kept a little under the earth’s natural surface. Then
puddle the whole of its face with six inches of well-wrought clay, paving it with
bricks laid flat, and giving it all over a little coat of Portland cement. Thus you
have a first-class and lasting catchpit to hold water most of the year, indeed, the
whole season. Pheasants are expected to remain in covert for food and safety from
September to February, and then there is certainly always plenty of water. After
February the pheasant likes to go further away, and, soon after the gun is with-
drawn, is pretty sure to get distributed about in search of insects and various roots.
Pheasants rove about quietly during their breeding season, but little is seen or heard
of them after April till corn harvest, as they live a quiet, secluded life through
summer. I have made catchpools by casing them only with puddled clay. One
disadvantage of this is, in a long dry time the water gets low, and the clay sides
becoming exposed, contract, crack, and allow the water to run to waste if they are
not looked to when rain does come. There is also another way in which I have had
F 2

36 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

catchpools made where natural gravel abounds, namely, to make it into concrete and
case the bottom and sides with this only. It answers well, and saves the labour and
expense of getting bricks from a distance. Every feeder knows that dry barley and
buckwheat in sheaf, and stacked in the vicinity of the preserves, and some pulled
out and shaken about occasionally, with a change of maize, will keep the pheasants
in good condition; but it does not occur to everyone that a good supply of water
near their feeding ground has a considerable influence on their habits. After feeding
heartily on dry food, they will stray for water if there be none handy, and will
stay away afterwards till hungry again, thus running the risk of being shot during
their wanderings. To keep pheasants in their own coverts, take means of making
them fond of them, even though there be no water near I have found Jerusalem
artichokes the best means of attraction. They are so fond of these tubers that they
will hunt them by sight or smell from any obscure corner. Give them also
potatoes (small and large), mangold wurtzel, carrots, white-hearted cabbage, and
savoys, all of which they will readily eat, and which not only prevent their straying
- for water, but afford a change of food that is genial and natural to their taste and
well-doing, besides economising their dry corn food. Where the coverts abound
with acorns, beechmast, Spanish chesnuts, and groundnuts, the. pheasant requires but
little feeding till the middle of December.”

The vignette represents the head of a starling with an extreme prolongation
of the lower jaw: it is in singular contrast to the abnormal head figured at the
end of the last chapter.

CHAPTER V.

MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES (CONTINUED).

WE #-< REARING AND PROTECTION.

(3 ITH regard to the rearing of pheasants in preserves but little
A need be said; the less they are interfered with the better. No
good can possibly come from disturbing the sitting hens,
but, on the other hand, a great amount of mischief may
accrue. When leaving the nest quietly in order to seek food,
the hen does so in such a manner as not to attract the atten-
tion of the numerous enemies, as crows, magpies, jays, &.,
that are on the watch to discover and devour her eggs; but
driven off by the prying intrusion of a visitor, she departs

\ i without caution, and makes known the situation of her
Eh 5, | concealed nest. The only circumstance warranting any
f N "interference with the nests of the wild birds, is the occurrence

of a greater number of eggs than the parent hen is capable of
rearing as young birds, should the whole of them be hatched. A hen pheasant
is rarely seen with more than six or seven young, at least when they have arrived
at any size; and as she not unfrequently lays a larger number of eggs, it is an |
advantageous plan to remove all beyond eight or nine for the purpose of hatching |
them under common farmyard hens. Mr. J. Baily, in his “ Pheasants and.
Pheasantries,’’ says that if “a keeper knows of forty nests, seven eggs may be
safely spared from each; this will give two hundred and eighty eggs for tame
rearing ;” but such a degree of prolificacy in wild pheasants is a higher average
than has ever come under my notice.

Another point of very considerable importance with regard to the breeding
of pheasants in preserves, is the number of cocks that should be left in the spring
in proportion to the number of hens. There is no doubt whatever that in a state
of nature pheasants are polygamous, the stronger males driving away the weaker,
and taking possession of several hens to constitute their seraglios; hence the custom
to shoot down most of the cocks, and leave all the hens, even the oldest, to breed.

\\

Ki S M4

!

1
'

38 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

It is probable that this procedure is frequently carried too far, and in confirmation
of this view I have much pleasure in quoting Mr. J. D. Dougall, who, in his
“Shooting Simplified,” says: “It is customary to shoot cock pheasants only, and
to impose a fine upon the sportsmen who break this rule, the money being escheated
to the head keeper, or applied to defray the expenses of a dinner at the end of
the season, when shootings are rented by a party of gentlemen. This rule is very
frequently overstretched. It should not be forgotten that the desired end may be
frustrated by having too many hens, as well as by having too few, and in
whatever way the disproportion of sexes is caused, the result—reduction in
increase—is the same. If the cocks are continually killed down, few male birds
will arrive at that complete maturity so essential to producing a healthy stock.
On the other hand, if the hens are continually spared, they will not only grow
out of proportion to the number of cocks, but the aged hens will beat off the
two and three year old birds. Very old hens should certainly be destroyed. The
most prolific are the two and three year old birds.”

A correspondent who supports this view writes: “It is very certain that in
many instances too few cocks are frequently left in preserved coverts at the end
of the season; it is also notorious that in the neighbourhood of many preserves
a nide of above fourteen birds (and I have known eighteen) is not unfrequently
produced from an outlying cock and hen occupying some detached covert, and
yields the best birds of the season when the 1st of October arrives. With respect
to the proportion of cocks to be left much may be written about it, depending
upon all circumstances connected with the ground under the entire control of the
individual seeking to preserve a given stock of pheasants. In all cases, in my
opinion, too much forbearance is shown to hens early in the season, and much too
little towards cocks at the end. The safe plan, in all cases, is to adapt one or
two small coverts, as much in the centre of your ground as possible, as your
feeding places for your stock birds, and before the middle of December the exact
number of birds which by judicious management you have collected there may be
ascertained by a few days’ careful observation. With attention and the greatest
forbearance towards thése (no old cocks being left among their number), you
may kill freely elsewhere, and insure to your friends and yourself plenty of sport
the following season from them and their progeny.”

With regard to the exact proportion of sexes left in the coverts, it is difficult
to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion. One writer states: “It would be to the
advantage of preservers of pheasants if they would, before it is too late, refrain
from shooting the cock birds too close, as most game preservers, I presume, wish
to have as good and numerous a stock of pheasants as they can for breeding ; and
the reason why so many are disappointed in this respect is for want of more cock
birds. There should be left at least one cock for every three hens, as eggs then

REARING AND PROTECTION. 39

would be more plentiful, the chicks stronger, and better able to contend with a
wet season and the numerous enemies they have to battle with.”

The frequent occurrence of old barren hens that have assumed either wholly
or in part the plumage of the male is a proof, if one were wanting, that in many
coverts the old worn out hens are left longer than is desirable or profitable.

The chapters on the Management of Pheasants in Preserves would be very
incomplete without the consideration of the best means of protecting them against
their numerous enemies. The chief four-footed depredators are cats, foxes, hedgehogs,
and polecats. Their other enemies are feathered and unfeathered. Amongst the
former may be included crows, magpies, and jays, which are great destroyers of
eggs. But the unfeathered bipeds, known as poachers, are %perhaps the most
destructive. By far the greater number of pheasants purloined by the poacher
are shot at night; this destruction may be prevented in great part, without the
necessity for night watching, by having suitable coverts, as has been already fully
explained in the last chapter. Where larches and other trees with exposed
horizontal branches abound, recourse should be had to mock pheasants, which are
excessively annoying to poachers, as they cause them to expend ammunition uselessly
and alarm the neighbouring keepers, without any profitable result. Mock
pheasants, quite incapable of being distinguished from the real birds at night, may
be made of hay bands, rushes, or fern, bound with tarred twine or wire on a
stick about two feet long. Captain Darwin, in his “Game Preserver’s Manual,”
writing of mock pheasants, states, “they are very easily made, but their situations
should be often varied. Some keepers make them of board cut into the shape of
a pheasant. These are of little use, for a poacher gets under them and sees at
once what they are. Others make the body of wood, roughly turned in a lathe,
and nail a strip of wood on it for a tail, or with real tail feathers stuck in. The
best mode of making mock pheasants after all is as follows: Get a bunch of long
hay and roll it round a stick till it is the size of a pheasant’s body, leaving enough
for a tail; wrap it with thin copper wire down to the end of the tail; cut a peg
about six inches long and as thick as a lead-pencil; wind a bit of bay round the
end to make a head, and run the peg into the body. Tie these imitations on the
branches of larch trees here and there. Pheasants prefer this kind of tree to
others, in consequence of the boughs coming out straight, and so allowing them
a flat surface to sit on. In woods where there are no foxes, and where the ground
vermin has been well killed down, it is a good plan (especially if you think it a
likely night for poachers) to unroost the pheasants in the evening. They will not
fly up again that night. If you begin by unroosting the pheasants when they
are young, and have only flown up a few nights, they will take to roosting on the
ground altogether, and never fly up at all. Pheasants that have not been accustomed
to be driven down at all are made rather shy by the frequent repetition of this

40 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

performance, and it may drive them away. ‘They are very easily frightened. If
you begin shooting rabbits, &c., they will take the alarm. ‘They can’t stand guns
going off constantly in the coverts where they are.”

Imitation pheasants thus made will only last a single season; should anything
more permanent be desired, recourse must be had to those made of wood, which may
be cheaply and efficiently constructed on the following plan, the suggestion of a
correspondent, who states: “ Six years since I had a number of wooden ones made

and set up, and hundreds remain to this day. The manufacture was simple. Take
a fir pole, saw it through at an angle of 45°; this cut, when rounded off, forms the
breast of the bird; a cut at 224° forms the tail-end. So, by making alternate

cuts at 45° and 223°, you may cut up the pole without waste, as shown in the
plan sent herewith. A lath cut through in like manner at a very acute angle
forms a capital tail, which should be put on, much nearer the perpendicular than
shown in the engraving, as pheasants roost with the tail hanging nearly straight
down, the head is easily made out of the upper end of the pole, where too small

ee oe

for the body. Daub over with some oil paint (burnt umber), bore a hole through
the body for the nail, and nail on the tree with a chisel-ended nail, that you may
not split the branch. What the cost is you may judge, as a 12ft. pole costs
fourpence, or less. Place them pretty thick where pheasants roost. By boring a
hole lin. diameter from the underneath to within half an inch of the back, they
will, if placed on a nail, move with the wind. My experience of them is that
the deception is perfect enough, as they are difficult to distinguish from a pheasant,
even in daylight. Whatever kind of mock pheasant is employed, they should not
be placed too near public roads or footpaths, and in those cases in which they are
liable to observation during the day, they should be moved frequently.”

Alarm guns set in coverts with wires leading in different directions are
most valuable as alarming poachers, and indicating the locality in which they are
pursuing their depredations. One of the best, and certainly the cheapest, alarm
guns with which I am acquainted is that devised by Captain Darwin, and described

REARING AND PROTECTION. 41

in his useful manual on Game Preserving, which has been too long out of print.
The author writes: “I have constructed an alarm gun which combines the desiderata
of cheapness and simplicity more completely than any I have yet seen. I do not
lay claim to the invention of this gun, but I certainly find I can adopt materials
in its construction that will come to a tenth part of the money usually charged ;
in fact, any tolerable mechanic ought to make it in an hour. It is formed as
follows: get a piece of iron gas-pipe, three inches long and three-quarters bore. At
the threaded end make a plug of iron a quarter of an inch thick, and tapped in the
centre for a nipple. Drive this plug into the barrel, and braze it. The nipple is
then screwed in. Then get a corresponding piece of the gas-pipe, from two feet six
inches to three feet long, also threaded at the end. Screw the collar (that always
goes along with this sort of gas-pipe), on to the long piece as tight as it will go.
The gun is now complete with the exception of the hammer, which is a piece of
round iron about a foot long, and slipping easily down the barrel. To set the gun
you must tie the long barrel fast to the stem of a tree in the plantation, with
the short barrel downwards. Unscrew the latter and load it with a couple of
charges of powder, and put on the cap, which you should cover with some beeswax
and suet mixed. Then screw the short barrel into the long one. Drill a small
hole through the loose piece of iron about four inches from one end, and put it in
the barrel with a nail or peg in the small hole, and a string from the nail going
down the side of the tree in the direction you may choose. Mind and not have
the wire so low that a dog can let it off. When the wire is touched it draws the
nail, and the hammer, falling down on the barrel, lets the cap off. Being fastened
up in a tree, and close to the stem, it can catch the eye of no one, and merely has
to be shifted occasionally, though of course there is no need to do this until after
it has been fired. After all, nothing daunts poachers so much as pit-falls made in
the woods. They should be about seven feet deep, and made with the sides slanting,
so that the chamber is larger at the bottom than at the top. Unless boarded all
round, the soil will fall in. The opening should be four feet square, and be covered
with sticks and sods, or anything resembling the surrounding ground. Poachers are
very shy of venturing into woods where you have these pit-falls.”

A more complicated alarm gun, giving four distinct reports in rapid
succession, was described in the first edition, but the danger attending its employ-
ment in consequence of its discharging the wooden plugs, with which the barrels
are closed, upwards, has induced me to omit the account.

A very simple alarm gun, which can be constructed out of any old pistol barrel
and a spiral bell spring, is shown in the following engraving, in which D
represents a block of wood, capable of being nailed to a tree; C the barrel, which
is loaded and capped in the usual manner. The gun is discharged by the descent
of the hammer B; this is pulled down by the spiral spring, when the peg A,

G

42 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

which supports it, is removed by any strain on the line or lines attached to it.
The whole is protected from rain by the piece of bent tin or zinc, E.

A very good alarm gun of larger size, capable of taking seven or eight
drams of powder, and making a correspondingly loud report, and manufactured by
W. E. Wigg, of Barnby Foundry, Beccles, Suffolk, is shown in the accompanying
block ; it is discharged by the action of a strong curved spring, which is held by
a trigger, that can be acted on by several wires set in different directions. The

nipple is protected from rain by a metal covering, and the whole is strongly cast,
so as not to be liable to derangement. I have found these guns are cheap, durable,
and most efficient. It is almost unnecessary to remark that alarm guns of various
forms can be purchased at any gunmakers. .

The destruction effected in preserves during the nesting season by crows;
jackdaws, magpies, jays, and other egg-eating birds, is well known, and can only be

REARING AND PROTECTION. 43
: \
remedied by the trapping or shooting of the culprits. The question as to the influence
of the rook in pheasant coverts is one of those respecting which there is much to
be said on both sides. The rook is so very valuable an ally to the agriculturist, by
destroying an enormous number of grubs, wire worms, &c., that its case claims our
most attentive consideration. In reply to the accusation that rooks occasionally
destroy the eggs of the pheasant, Mr. James Barnes writes:—‘ According to my
‘own observations of above fifty years, the rook will eat eggs if placed about in open
country pastures, &c., but I believe never goes on foraging excursions for eggs or
young game, as the carrion crow does. Rooks will not only knock eggs to
pieces openly placed in sight of their feeding grounds, but they will also, in hard
frosty weather, devour many other things, such as slaughter-house garbage, or dead
poultry, game, or fish that may lie about decomposing within their reach. My own
observation is, that the rook is a real friend to the pheasant, and provides it with
a deal of food at an acceptable season. In the years 1816 and 1817, I went with
others to see the young rooks shot in Lord Middleton’s park, Pepper Harrow,
Godalming, Surrey. The trees were high in an inclosure, but not at that time
very thick on the ground, for there was some scrubby undergrowth and a rare crop
of rank weeds—the open spaces were splashed as if whitewashed, as the undergrowth
of all rookeries is during the first two or three weeks of May. Amongst this under-
growth there were two or three pheasants’ nests, protected with boughs; and strict
orders were given that no one should disturb the pheasants’ nests. I thought but
little of this at the time; but afterwards I observed that where pheasants were
preserved near a rookery, pheasants were to be seen there through March, April, and
May. I did not observe the real cause of their foraging and running about the
rookeries till about 1844, when I saw a cock pheasant pick up a piece of potato on
a gravel walk, and run away with it into the shrubbery, and remembered that I
had often seen pieces of potato lying about, and had seen the rooks drop them and
their pellets likewise. The latter were frequently full of half-digested grains, as if
dropped through fright. I had seen, from the middle of February to the middle of
May, bushels of pellets underneath the trees scratched over by the pheasants—of
course for the food to be found therein; and there were always pheasants’ nests
close at hand, even in or under the rookery. Where the potato is much cultivated,
as in South Devon, a good many small potatoes would be turned up in ploughing
the land, which the rook and jackdaw seemed to claim as their perquisites and
carry off home. I have seen five or six fall of a morning on walking under the
trees, but the birds never came down to pick one up. I have seen fall large brown
grubs, the fern beetle, whole ears and loose grains of corn, pellets or quids
half chewed or sucked over, and have seen the pheasants run and pick them up.
There is fine living in variety for pheasants under a rookery, provided neither party
is disturbed by strangers. Respecting the rooks’ pellets, from the middle of
G 2

44, MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

February to the middle of March, in a corn-growing district, while the spring
corn .is sowing, the rook hurries over the new-sown land, and picks up all stray
grains that comes under his observation, as well as worms, grubs, slugs, bits of
potatoes, pieces of half-decayed scales of oyster shells, little pieces of lime, sand, and
gravel—all together hoarded under the lower mandible, which looks like a big full
pouch as he arrives home to his mate in charge of the nest. Here his load is
delivered to the mate, who, with great ado, chews it over, and ejects the pellet or
quid in due course. This business is continued till late at night. Many times,
passing under the trees at various hours, from ten p.m. till three a.m., I have
heard the pellet drop, and have had them fall on my head and shoulders, and
picked them up by the light of the moon or lantern. The rook’s excreta are at
this time pretty solid. As the month of March is nearly ended this alters; and in
April, when the corn is sprouted and growing, the ejecta are like sloppy mud,
and contain the husks of a few grains of corn, wings of beetles, pieces of snail
Shells, lime, and grit. From this time till June no pellets or quids are to be
seen; the droppings are loose, and like whitewash over the vegetation underneath.
Insect food gets so various and abundant that they and their broods seem to
entirely subsist on it for six or eight weeks, and the young thrive and grow fat
wonderfully quick in showery, growing weather of April and beginning of May.
‘The young that are spared from the gunners, as soon as they can fly, are enticed
‘away early in the morning by their parents, at first by short flights, to the fields
then preparing for turnip sowing, or the pasture that produces cockchafers, fern
beetles, and other insects, and .for a few nights roost on trees near their work.
After they get strong on the wing, and good flyers, they all come back to their
native home, the rookery. As soon as a field of early podded peas is pretty full,
the rook, if not looked after, will take toll; also of wheat or barley they will
certainly, if an opportunity is afforded them, filch a portion, particularly such as is
near trees or has been laid by wind or wet. Then, again, commences the real
pellet-ejecting season. The rook then hurries to the unguarded field to filch corn,
which he stores in his pouch as quickly as possible, picking up also on the pasture
and turnip fields, &c., quantities of grubs, snails, slugs, beetles, earwigs, grass-
hoppers, crickets, fern flies, various other insects, and their larve. It is truly
astonishing to see, as I have done for years, on examining those ejected pellets,
what variety at times they contain—besides remains of every kind of creeping,
running, or flying insect that may chance to come in their way, in the season of
ripening of seeds on the pastures a number of grass and weed seeds, the husk of
corn—wheat and barley—many kinds of weed and coarse grass seeds. After harvest
and gleaning season is over, no more pellets are to be seen. In the wheat-sowing
season they filch some loose grains and dig out the young plants, and, through its
being wet at this season, and collected with much dirt, the food is ejected in a loose

REARING AND PROTECTION. 45

manner like mud. However, in all my long experience, I never saw under the
trees an eggshell of any game, poultry, or other birds, except the shells of their
own which had been hatched out, or tumbled out by stormy winds. I have, however,
yearly seen a pair of carrion crows attend to the early rooks’ nests, and carry off
the new-laid eggs, as they did also with pheasants’ eggs, the shells of which I have
found lying about by scores. It is a curious fact that, numerous as the rooks are,
they are such cowards as to allow the crow to rob them, and only fly round and
round, cawing, while the robbery is going on.”

I have known many cases where pheasants have sat, and reared their young
safely almost immediately under a rookery. On the other hand, there is no doubt
but that in seasons of scarcity, when very hard pressed for food, rooks will destroy
pheasants’ eggs.

Colonel J. Whyte, Newtown Manor, Sligo, in reply to Mr. Barnes, writes as
follows: “There appears some doubt whether rooks suck pheasants’ eggs, or whether
the carrion crow is not the real depredator. Perhaps what follows may set the question
at rest. About four years since, Lord Clonbrock asked me if I had ever known
rooks eat the eggs of pheasants. My idea was that they might do so occasionally,
but not as a custom. His lordship replied: ‘The rooks about me have within the
last year or two taken to hunt up and destroy the eggs as regularly as if they were
so many magpies. I did not believe my keeper at first, but, going myself to look
out, I saw them regularly beating up and down a piece of rough ground where the
pheasants nest, and when they found one they would rise up a few yards in the
air and then pounce down on it.’ Lord Dunsandle’s place is within fifteen or
sixteen miles of Lord Clonbrock; there are three rookeries in it, and the first
question I asked the keeper on my arrival there to shoot was, ‘Do the rooks suck
or damage the pheasants’ eggs?’ The answer was, ‘No;’ nor did they do so till
this year. But about a week ago I received from Lord Dunsandle a letter, in which
he said, ‘This year the rooks have taken to destroying my pheasants’ eggs, and
the mischief they have done is incredible; the fields are strewn with broken eggs.’
It would therefore appear that not only do rooks destroy eggs, but that they take
to it in a sudden and unaccountable manner. There can be no question here about
the work being done by carrion crows, for the only carrion crow in Ireland is the
Royston or hooded crow.* The reason that Mr. Barnes had no shells under the
trees in the rookery is, that the rook breaks and eats the eggs on the spot. Jackdaws
will eat eggs whenever they can find them, and my keeper assures me that a short
time since he saw one take a little rabbit up in his claws several yards, and then
drop it on his approach. This colony of jackdaws is situated in some high cliffs,
and are increasing in numbers every year.”

* Tt is now ascertained that the Carrion and the Royston crows are merely varieties of one and the
Same species, and that they breed together with great freedom. Both varieties occur in Ireland.

46 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

Mr: Leno, a very extensive pheasant breeder, states the case still more
forcibly :—‘‘ My experience is, that rooks will destroy pheasants’ eggs whenever
they happen to find them out. In one week a rook came twice and settled down
in my pheasantry, and took an egg away each time: and where rooks abound, if
perchance a pheasant’s or partridge’s nest is left by the mowers, the rooks may be
seen crowding around the patch of grass left for shelter, and the eggs are finished
in quick time. It is useless to leave a nest exposed in the neighbourhood of rooks,
as they are sure to eat them.”

Mr. Harman, of Riverstown, co. Sligo, writes: “I am unwilling to bring
in a case against that useful bird the rook, but I can confirm the destruction of
pheasants’ eggs. A few years ago, in a dry spring, with a north-east wind for many
weeks, when the rooks could not bore for their accustomed food, about one hundred
and fifty pheasants’ eggs—i.e., the shells—were found under the rookery near the
house, having been taken by the rooks to feed their young, other food failing them. I
have caught them when baiting traps with eggs for magpies; but still I consider
the rook (barring these serious misdemeanours) a most useful bird.”

Mr. J. E. Harting informs me that on one occasion, in the month of April,
about the 14th or 15th, he saw a rook in the act of carrying off a pheasant’s ege
from a copse. The bird was carrying the egg upon the point of the bill, and on
being fired at he dropped it, and when picked up it was found to be empty,
although still wet inside. There was a large and irregularly-shaped hole towards
the larger end. On the very ground where this occurred, my informant had heard
the keeper say that he had on more than one occasion shot rooks in the act of
carrying off pheasants’ eggs.

The balance of the evidence for and against the rook in respect of its conduct
regarding the eggs of pheasants, appears to show that, saving in seasons of an
exceptional character, or in cases where the eggs are left exposed by mowing,
the influence of the bird is not seriously antagonistic to the rearing of pheasants;
but when hard pressed for food, rooks will even destroy the -young birds. A
correspondent writes as follows:—“On June 18 my keeper observed about half a
dozen rooks engaged amongst the coops of young pheasants, and, suspecting their
object, drove them off. The next morning, having fed and watered the young birds,
he went to his cottage, and, looking out about six o’clock, saw a strong detachment
of rooks from a neighbouring colony in great excitement amongst the coops. He
ran down, a distance of two hundred yards, as fast as possible, but before he arrived
they had succeeded in killing, and for the most part carrying off, from forty to
fifty birds, two or three weeks old. As he came amongst them they flew up in
all directions, their beaks full of the ‘spoil. The dead birds not carried away had all
of their heads pulled off, and most of their legs and wings torn from the body. I
have long known that rooks destroy partridges’ nests and eat the eggs when short

REARING AND PROTECTION. 47

of other food, but have never known a raid of this description. I attribute it to
the excessive drought, which has so starved the birds by depriving them of their
natural insect food that they are driven to depredation. It will be necessary to be
on guard for some time; bad habits once acquired (as with man-eating tigers) may
last even more than one season. Probably the half-dozen rooks first seen amongst
the coops tasted two or three, and, finding them eatable, brought their friends in
numbers the next morning.”

The common Moorhen, or Gallinule, is occasionally destructive to young pheasants.
The late Mr. Gould recounted the evidence in the fourth volume of “The Birds
of Great Britain,’ and Mr. H. J. Partridge, of Hockham Hall, Thetford, writing to
the Zoologist, stated that “ At the beginning of July, the keeper having lost several
pheasants about three weeks old from a copse, and having set traps in vain for
winged and four-footed vermin, determined to keep watch for the aggressor, when,
after some time, a Moorhen was seen walking about near the copse; the keeper,
supposing it only came to eat the young pheasants’ food, did not shoot it, until he
saw the Moorhen strike a young pheasant, which it killed immediately, and devoured,
except the leg and wing bones. The remains agreed exactly with eight found
before. Perfect confidence may be placed in the correctness of this statement.”

The common Kestrel, or Windhover, so well known as a destroyer of field
mice, has also been accused of attacking young pheasants. Mr. J. H. Gurney, of
Northrepps, one of the highest authorities on accipitrine birds, writes as follows :—
“Mr. Stevenson, in his article on the Kestrel in the ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ remarks:
‘That some kestrels carry off young partridges as well as other small birds during
the nesting season, is too well authenticated as a fact for even their warmest advo-
cates to gainsay.’ For many years I have endeavoured to collect reliable infor-
mation on this point, and I am convinced of the correctness of Mr. Stevenson’s
opinion above quoted; but there is this difference between the sparrowhawk and
the kestrel in their habits of preying on young partridges and pheasants—viz., that
the kestrel only destroys them when very young, and the sparrowhawk continues
to attack them long after they have grown too large to be prey for the kestrel. To
particularise two instances: Many years ago,’a very young partridge was brought to
me which had been taken out of a kestrel’s nest at Easton, in Norfolk; and during
the present spring a gamekeeper in this parish, who is as trustworthy an observer
of such matters as any man I know, saw a hen kestrel take up a very young
pheasant in its talons and rise with it about eight feet from the ground; my
informant then fired at the depredator with a small pistol, when it dropped its prey,
which, though somewhat injured, ultimately recovered; and an instance of a young
pheasant found in the nest of a kestrel was recorded in The Field of May
138, 1868.”

The pheasant, from nesting on the ground, is peculiarly exposed to the

48 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN PRESERVES.

attacks of four-footed or ground vermin, and the escape of any of the sitting birds
and their eggs from foxes, polecats, hedgehogs, &c., appears at first sight almost
impossible. This escape is attributed by many, possibly by the majority, of sports-
men to the alleged fact that in the birds when sitting the scent which is given out
by the animal at other times is suppressed; in proof of this statement is adduced
the fact that dogs, even those with the keenest powers of smell, will pass within a
few feet, or even a less distance, of a sitting pheasant without evincing the slightest
cognizance of her proximity provided she is concealed from sight. By others this
circumstance is denied, they reason @ priori that it is impossible for an animal to
suppress the secretions and exhalations natural to it—secretion not being a voluntary
act. I believe, however, that the peculiar specific odour of the bird is suppressed
during incubation, not, however, as a voluntary act, but in a manner which is capable
of being accounted for physiologically. The suppression of the scent during incu-
bation is necessary to the safety of the birds, and essential to the continuance of
the species. I believe this suppression is due to what may be .termed vicarious
secretion. In other words, the odoriferous particles which are usually exhaled by
the skin are, during such time as the bird is sitting, excreted into the intestinal
canal, most probably into the czecum or the cloaca. The proof of this is accessible to
every one; the excreta of a common fowl or pheasant, when the bird is not sitting,
have, when first discharged, no odour akin to the smell of the bird itself. On the
other hand, the excreta of a sitting hen have a most remarkable odour of the fowl,
but highly intensified. We are all acquainted with this smell as increased by
heat during roasting; and practical poultry keepers must have remarked that
the excreta discharged by a hen on leaving the nest have an odour totally
unlike those discharged at any other time, involuntarily recalling the smell of a
roasted fowl, highly and disagreeably intensified. I believe the explanation of the
whole matter to be as follows: the suppression of the natural scent is essential to
the safety of the bird during incubation; that at such time vicarious secretion of
the odoriferous particles takes place into the intestinal canal, so that the bird
becomes scentless, and in this manner her safety and that of her eggs is secured.
This explanation would probably apply equally to partridges and other birds
nesting on the ground.

The absence of scent in the sitting pheasant is most probably the explanation
of the fact that foxes and pheasants are capable of being reared in the same preserves ;
at the same time the keepers are usually desirous of making assurance doubly sure,
by scaring the foxes from the neighbourhood of the nests by some strong and
offensive substance. A very practical gamekeeper writes as follows:—“If any
keeper will find his nests and sprinkle a little gas tar anywhere about them, he will
find the foxes will not take the birds. I should, as a keeper, find every nest
possible, and dress the bushes, stumps of trees, &c., near the place of such nest,

REARING AND PROTECTION. 49

and then keep away entirely till I thought the bird had hatched, as constantly
haunting a bird’s nest is the most foolish thing that can be. When such nests are
once found and dressed, let the keeper look out and trap all kinds of vermin, such
as the cat, stoat, fitchet, weasel, hedgehog, or rat, or magpie, jay, hawk, crow,
rook, or jackdaw. ‘These are all enemies to the birds, as well as the fox. I am
satisfied, as a gamekeeper, that with good vermin trapping, dressing near the nests,
and good bushing and pegging of land, anyone will have plenty of game, and
may still keep plenty of foxes.” >=

Another equally efficacious plan, the value of which has been repeatedly proved,
is to fill a number of phials with the so-called “oil of animal” (also known as
oil of hartshorn and Dippel’s oil), and suspend them uncorked to sticks about
eighteen inches long, and stick two or three round each nest, about a foot from
it. The smell of the oil will keep the foxes from approaching.

In the vicinity of dwellings, there is no more dangerous enemy to pheasants
than the common cat. Captain Darwin, in his “Game Preserver’s Manual,’’ writes
as follows:—‘‘There is no species of vermin more destructive to game than the
domestic cat. People not aware of her predatory habits would never for a moment
suppose that the household favourite that appears to be dozing so innocently by
the fire is most probably under the influence of fatigue caused by a hard night’s
hunting in the plantations. How different also in her manner is a cat when at
home and when detected prowling after the game. In the first of the two cases she
is tame and accessible to any little attentions; in the latter she seems to know she
is doing wrong, and scampers off home as hard as she can go. Luckily there is
no animal more easily taken in a trap, if common care be used in setting.”

Laying poisoned meat is now illegal, and the sale of arsenic to private
persons interdicted by statute; nevertheless I would caution any one against the
use of that drug, as the employment of it is attended with much cruelty, as it is
immediately rejected by vomiting, but not before it has laid the foundation of a
violent and painful inflammation of the stomach, from which the animal suffers
for weeks, but rarely dies. If it is absolutely necessary to use poison for cats,
a little carbonate of baryta, mixed up with the soft roe of a'‘red herring, is the
most certain and speedy that can be employed, but a good keeper should know
how to trap cats and all other vermin, as polecats, stoats, &c., and keep his
preserves clear without the aid of poison.

Hedgehogs are undoubtedly destructive to eggs as well as to the young
birds, and should be trapped in coverts in which pheasants are reared.

BBR DS

CHAPTER VI.

MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.
YY —_—

ae FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. ,
Wy; <a AVING treated of pheasants as wild birds, their rearing and
oy me management in enclosed pens and aviaries have next to be
Ny Ke considered. When pheasants are bred for turning out into the
Va m °” ~ coverts, and not as merely ornamental aviary birds, the system
of movable enclosures, constructed of rough hurdles, will be found
QE )S far superior to any more elaborate contrivances, for, when the
Si breeding bods: are kept in the same place year after year, the
>> ground becomes, in spite of all the care that may be bestowed on
| it, foul and tainted, disease breaks out even amongst the old birds,

@ and the successful rearing of young ones is nearly hopeless.

The pens should be situated in a dry situation, sandy or chalky if
possible, but any soil not retentive of wet will answer. If the surface is sloping
it is to be preferred, as the rain is less likely to render the ground permanently
damp. Although cold is not injurious to the mature birds, and they require no
special shelter, the south side of a hill or rising ground is to be chosen in
preference, as the young stock are delicate. Common wattled hurdles, made seven
feet long, and set up on end, make as good pens as can be desired; they should
be supported by posts or fir poles driven firmly into the ground, with a horizontal
pole at the top, to which the hurdles are bound by tarred cord, or, still better,
very stout flexible binding wire, which should also be used to secure them together
at top and bottom. The posts should be inside the pen, as better calculated to
resist any pressure from without.

The hurdles should rest on the ground without any opening below, and if
they are sunk three or four inches below the surface, the pens will be more
secure against dogs and foxes or any animals likely to scratch their way under.
The size of these pens should be as large as convenient; for a cock and three to
five hens—the utmost number that should be placed together—as many hurdles

FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 51

should be employed as will form a pen twenty-five to thirty-five feet square, the
smaller containing 625 square or superficial feet of surface; the larger, which will
require less than half as many more hurdles, containing nearly double the interior
space, namely, 1225 square feet. If the birds are full winged, these enclosures must
be netted over at the top; for this purpose old tanned herring netting, which can be
bought very cheaply, will be found much better than wire-work, as the pheasants are
apt, when frightened, to fly up against the top of the enclosure, and, if it be of
wire, to break their necks or seriously injure themselves. Should netting be employed,
several upright poles, with cross pieces at the top, are required to be placed at
equal distances to support the netting, and prevent it hanging down into the interior
of the pen. A much better plan is to leave the pen quite open at the top, and to
clip one of the wings of each bird, cutting off twelve or fourteen of the flight
feathers close to the quills. When the birds find they cannot fly they become much
tamer, and are not so apt to injure themselves by dashing about wildly, especially
if there be, as is desirable, brushwood cover or faggots in the pen, under which
they can run and conceal themselves. Some persons are in the habit of pinioning.
the birds by cutting off the last joint of the wing, and removing with it
permanently the ten primary quills, but the plan is not to be recommended, as the
pinioned birds are quite incapable of taking due care of themselves when turned
out into the open, and are liable to fall a prey to ground vermin.

As illustrative of the mode in which a large number of birds can be successfully
kept in one locality, I will describe the arrangements which I saw at the pheasantries
belonging to Mr. Leno, a well-known dealer, residing near Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
The birds are kept in runs enclosed by hurdles between six and seven feet high. These
are formed of stout straight larch laths nailed to cross pieces of oak or other strong
wood, and are fastened to stout. posts securely driven into the ground. As the posts
are capable of being easily withdrawn and replaced, there is no difficulty in moving
the pens year after year—a most important consideration for the preservation of the
health of the birds. Moreover, by employing a greater or smaller number of hurdles
and posts, pens of any required size may be constructed, so as to accommodate a
larger or smaller number of birds. On my visit, the runs had recently been shifted
on to new ground, which consisted of young hazel coppice, which had been partly
cleared. The surface was covered with the dead leaves of last year’s growth and
with short underwood, affording ample opportunity for the birds to amuse them-
selves by scratching for insects and by seeking food amongst the leaves. The
amount of undergrowth afforded another important advantage, that the birds, on the
entrance of a stranger, could run under shelter and so conceal themselves, : instead
of dashing about wildly as they would otherwise have done. No roof or shelter of
any kind was afforded them, had such been erected the birds would only have used
it for roosting upon, and not for sleeping under. In each pen was a horizontal

H 2

52 MANAGEMENT -OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

pole, supported about four feet from the ground by a post at each end. Across this
was laid a number of stout branches and long faggots, forming a kind of shelter to
which the birds could have recourse, and under which the hens would occasionally
lay; but the chief advantage it affords is that of a roosting-place, elevated from
the ground, and so keeping the birds away from the cold damp soil during the night.
The sloping arrangement of these branches is advantageous to the birds, as all of
them have the flight feathers of one wing (not both) cut short; they are thus
destitute of the power of flight, and consequently inclined branches, up which they
can walk and down which they-can descend without violence, are exceedingly useful.
These runs, open as they are, afford all the shelter required, provided they are not
placed on the north or east side of a hill or rising ground. Their advantage over
permanent buildings is great; in the latter pheasants cannot be successfully reared,
as the ground becomes tainted, scrofulous diseases break out, showing themselves
chiefly in white tubercles in the liver; and the ground also becomes charged with
the ova of the Sclerostoma syngamus, or gapeworm, which often causes great havoc
amongst the young poults. Both of these evils may be in great measure avoided by
shifting the runs as frequently as may be convenient. The runs may be made of
any size, so as to accommodate one cock and three or four hens, or a larger number
of birds. Care must be taken not to have them too small, as the birds when closely
confined, often take to pecking one another’s feathers—an evil which is occasionally
carried on until the persecuted bird is killed. When runs are made small, the ground
very rapidly becomes tainted, and the birds consequently diseased. The vigorous,
healthy aspect-of the numerous birds I saw at these pheasantries was evidently owing,
in great part at least, to the large size of the inclosures, and the fresh ground
to which they are so frequently shifted. No nest-places are made or required ;
the hens generally drop their eggs about at random, and they should be looked
for and collected at least twice a day. This is most important, as, if any eggs
are chipped or broken the birds may acquire the bad habit of pecking them, which
is quickly acquired by all others in the run, and will be found exceedingly difficult
to eradicate. The food employed is good sound barley, with a certain proportion of
buckwheat. This is varied by soft food consisting of meal, with which, at times, a small
proportion of greaves is mixed to supply the place of the animal food the pheasants
would obtain in a state of nature. Acorns are occasionally employed, but the birds
prefer grain. The food is strewed broadcast on the ground; and it is needless to say
that a constant supply of clean fresh water is provided for the birds. The young are
hatched under common barnyard fowls, and are reared on custard, biscuit, meal, rice,
and millet, with occasionally a little hempseed—ants’ eggs, though exceedingly
advantageous, not being found in the locality. °

The arrangements recommended by Mr. F. Crook vary somewhat in detail
from- those described, but are equally practical and effective. He writes :—*An

FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 53

order should be given to the ordinary wattled-hurdle makers to make a given
quantity of six feet by six feet open hurdles, with well-pointed ends, twenty-
four of these hurdles, when placed in position, will make a convenient-sized run,
thirty-six feet every way; but preparation must be made for a doorway, and for
covering over the whole of the hurdles inside the run with one and a half inch wire
netting round the sides, and string netting for the top. For the size run specified
there must be four posts, made with four-way T piece tops, to carry the netting ;
the posts to be placed equi-distant from each other, to properly divide off the interior
centre space; from each upright should branch out movable perches about eighteen
inches long, at different heights from the ground. The next and most important
point is the arrangement of nesting-places. At the most retired portion of the run
faggots should be placed, in bundles of three or more, arranged conical fashion, or
piled as soldiers do their arms, leaving a good space open at the bottom; but before
setting the faggots in their places, the earth must be dug out six inches deep, and
filled in with dry loose sand or fine dry mould, and then place the faggots over the
sand. There should be as many of these nesting-places as the space will afford,
taking care that sufficient space is left between each to admit of easy access by the
birds and their keeper.” Some writers recommend pens made of eight hurdles,
each six feet long, giving a square of twelve feet in each side, and having
an interior space of only 144 superficial feet; but I regard these pens as too
small for the health or comfort of the birds, that are far more apt to fall into
the evil habits of egg eating and feather plucking than when confined in
larger runs. ’

With regard to the food of the old birds in the pens, the more varied it is
the better. Good sound grain such as maize, barley, buckwheat, malt, tail wheat,
and oats, &c., may all be used. Mr. Baily recommends strongly an occasional feed of
boiled potatoes, of which the birds are exceedingly fond. He writes :— For bringing
pheasants home, or for keeping them there, we know of nothing equal to boiled
potatoes. Let them be boiled with the skins whole, and in that state taken
to the place where they are to be used. Before they are put down, cut out
of each skin a piece the size of a shilling, showing the meal within. Place
them at moderate distances from each other, and the pheasants will follow them
anywhere.”

Rice and damaged currants and raisins are very well for an occasional change,
but should be sparingly used. A few acorns may be given from time to time,
but their too exclusive use is apt to prove injurious. Mr. J. Fairfax Muckley,
of Audnam, writes on their employment as follows :—‘“ Three seasons ago I
laid in a stock of acorns, and instructed the feeder to give the pheasants a
few every day. They preferred them to other food. In one week I had ten dead
birds. They were fat and healthy in every respect, with the exception of inflam-

54 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

mation of the intestines. My conclusion is, that if allowed to have free access to
acorns. they eat more than they should, and consequently many die. Keepers
frequently depend too much upon acorns.”

With regard to the employment of animal food, such as horseflesh, greaves, &c.,
I believe its use, except in the very smallest quantity, to be exceedingly injurious ;
nor do I approve of the spiced condiments so strongly recommended by the makers.
The bodies of dead domestic animals can, however, be most advantageously utilized by
allowing them to become thoroughly fly-blown, and then burying them under about
a foot of soil in the pens, where the maggots go through the regular stages of growth,
after which they work their way to the surface in order to effect their change into
chrysalids. They furnish an admirable supply of insect food for the birds, and
give them constant occupation and exercise in scratching in the ground. Utilized
in this manner, the bodies of dead fowls, or any small domestic animals, are perfectly
inoffensive, and the result is most advantageous to the birds.

The employment of crushed bones, as a substitute for the varied animal
substances the pheasant feeds upon when in a wild state, is strongly advocated by
some authors. Mr. F. Crook writes :—‘‘ We have seen many instances of game being
perfectly cured of both eating their eggs and plucking each other, by the continual
practice of giving a portion of well-smashed bones every day. These remarks apply
more specially to. the home pheasantries, in consequence of the absence of the natural
shell stuff they pick up when at liberty, but we would recommend some to be thrown
about the feeding grounds of the preserves, as the highly nutritious nature of the.
elements of smashed fresh bones conduces remarkably to keep the birds together,
particularly in very wet seasons, when the condition of the land renders it impossible
for them to scratch about to the same extent.’’ Should the aviary be situated on soil
in which small stones are absent, these must be supplied; this is most conveniently
done by throwing in some fresh gravel once or twice a week.

There is one point on which almost all the works treating on the manage-
ment of pheasants are lamentably deficient, namely, enforcing the absolute necessity
for a constant supply of fresh green vegetable food. The tender grasses in an
aviary are soon eaten, and the birds, pining for fresh vegetable diet, become
irritable, feverish, and take to plucking each other’s feathers. To prevent this,
cabbages, turnip leaves—still better, waste lettuces from the garden, when
going to seed—should be supplied as fast as they are eaten; the smaller the pen
the greater the necessity for this supply. The late Dr. Jerdon, the distinguished
author of “The Birds of India,” when visiting the pheasantries in the Zoological
Gardens, said, in his emphatic manner, “ You are not giving these birds enough
vegetable food. Lettuce! Lettuce !! Lettuce!!!’ From my long experience in
breeding gallinaceous birds of all kinds, I can fully indorse his recommendation.

Should these cultivated vegetables be not readily obtained, a good supply of

FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 55

freshly-cut turves, with abundance of young grass and plenty of clover, should be
furnished daily.

Instead of placing a cock and three to five hens in a pen, as recommended,

some persons advocate putting cut-winged hens only in enclosures open at the
top, so that they may be visited by the wild males. Of necessity, this method
can only be followed in the immediate vicinity of coverts well stocked with
pheasants, and even under these conditions it is not always successful, the eggs
frequently not being fertilized. ‘It is sometimes recommended to put pheasant hens
into small enclosures open at the top, so that the wild cocks might get to them. I
suppose generally that plan is successful, but in my own case it has failed entirely.
I had plenty of eggs, but no chickens. My keeper gathered the eggs regularly and
carefully, and they were duly set under common hens; but not one single egg came
off. I know the wild cocks came close to the enclosure, but I never actually found
one inside. I followed Baily’s instructions implicitly; my own impression was, I
must say, that the wild cocks had not visited the hens.”
On the other hand, a second authority states:—“On an estate with which I
am well acquainted, the whole of the young birds, some 400, were reared from
eggs produced by hens whose mates were wild birds. The pheasantry was
constructed with an open top, and the wild cock birds regularly visited it. The
tameness of these birds was remarkable, and I have frequently seen six or eight
cock birds walking fearlessly about within a few yards of me whilst inspecting the
birds. As an instance of the audacity of the wild bird, I may mention that a few
years ago I kept five hen pheasants and one cock in a temporary covered pheasantry,
the lower part being covered up to the height of two or three feet, and the upper
part being constructed of wire stretched on poles. I noticed shortly after the birds
had been put in that the wire was bulged inwards in several places, and could
not imagine how it had been done. On watching, however, I found a wild cock
pheasant was in the habit of regularly fighting with the confined male bird by
flying up against the wire, the bird inside being by no means loath to accept the
challenge. One morning, however, the wild bird was found inside, a nail having
given way in one of his flights against the wire netting, being the cause of his
unexpected capture. When discovered he had nearly killed the imprisoned cock
‘bird, who was removed, and his adversary substituted. I may remark that those
who have tried breeding from wild cock birds will hardly, I fancy, return to the
old system of keeping the cocks in confinement, as I have found that the birds
bred from wild cocks are invariably stronger, and consequently easier to rear than
those bred in the ordinary way.”

There is no absolute necessity, however, for having recourse to the use
of open pens, as the eggs of cut-winged birds, kept in pheasantries of sufficient
size, well fed, with a good variety of fresh vegetable food, and supplied daily with

56 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

fresh clear water, hatch quite as well as eggs gathered out of nests in the
open covert.

The construction of more ornamental and permanent aviaries has now to be
spoken of, but will not require much consideration. Fixed aviaries are far inferior,
as regards the health of the birds, to those that are movable, therefore, if possible,
they should always be constructed so as to admit of their being shifted on to new
ground as often as is convenient. The great cause of the comparatively small
success that attends the rearing of pheasants in our Zoological collections arises from
the fact that the birds are kept on the same spot year after year, and in aviaries that
are not one-fourth of the size required for the health and comfort of the birds. The
plan of an ornamental aviary necessarily depends on the desires of the owner, and
hardly comes within the scope of this work. Mr. Crook, of Motcomb-street,
Belgrave-square, who has had much experience in erecting ornamental aviaries, writes
as follows respecting their construction :—‘“A neatly constructed lean-to building
may be employed facing south or south-west; ten feet wide or long, six feet deep
from back to front, and six feet high at front of the highest part of the roof:
the roof should project over the side eighteen inches to throw off the wet. The
ground must be dug out under the house, and dry earth or sand be filled in. Faggots
may be placed here as before directed, or slanting against the back wall; every
precaution being taken to induce seclusion for the nests. For those pheasantries
desired for strictly ornamental purposes, the run may be made to any size agreeable to
the wishes of the owner and the conveniences of the ground at command; or of any
design in charactor with some buildings near at hand. These ornamental aviaries may
be carried out to any extent, but cannot be made to move about; therefore the
greatest attention must be paid to any minute detail in construction to ensure the
health and contentedness of the inmates. When it is possible, the pens or runs
should be placed where there are some low-growing shrubs, or even currant or goose-
berry bushes, as they afford good sheltering places, and it is quite possible that the
hens will make their laying nests at the roots of some of them, which will be a
benefit to the birds.”

When the birds are left full winged in wire aviaries, and are wild, it will be
found very advantageous to have a cord netting stretched some inches below the wire
top, as otherwise the birds are very apt to injure themselves severely when they dash
upwards on being alarmed. When it is required to handle the pheasants, precautions
must be employed that are not needful in the case of fowls, for their extreme
timidity causes them to struggle so wildly as often to denude themselves of a great
portion of their plumage, or even to break or dislocate their limbs. They are best
caught by the aid of a large landing-net, with which they can be secured when
driven into an angle, formed by setting a large hurdle against the side or in the
corner of the pen. Mr. Baily, in his practical little treatise, writes:—‘“ The best

FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 57

way of catching them is with a net made of hazel rod, seven or eight feet long,
forked at top. This fork is bent round, or rather oval shaped, forming a hoop long
enough to take in the bird without injuring its plumage. It is then covered with
netting loose enough to allow of its being placed on the bird without pressing it
down to injure it, and tight enough to prevent it from turning round in the net to
the detriment of its plumage. Where many birds have to be caught, it is expedited
by the adoption of an expedient I will describe; and the plan is good, because it
is always bad for the birds to be driven about, which they must be before they can
be caught, if they are in a large pen. An extra hurdle should be made, to which
a door should be joined on hinges. It should be three feet long. This should be
placed by the side of one of those forming the pen, and the door being open the
birds should be gently driven into it; then the door should be closed. They may
then be taken with the hand or not. A pheasant should be caught with one hand,
taking at the same time a wing and thigh, the other hand should be brought into
play directly to prevent its struggling, and it may then be easily and safely held in
one, taking both thighs and the tips of both wings in the hand at the same time.
It takes two persons to cut the wings. They should always be held with their heads
towards the person holding them.”

Since the publication of the first edition of this work the plans advocated in
it have been very generally tested and discussed. The remarks of one of the writers—
“W. T.”—in The Field of 1878 contain so many useful details, that I am glad
to reproduce the more practical portion of his letters.

“The advice offered with reference to pheasant pens or aviaries is as easy and
inexpensive of adoption as it is good. By carefully following the excellent instructions
fully set forth in the work upon pheasants by Mr. Tegetmeier—to whom the thanks
of all lovers of the bird are due—I succeeded during the spring of 1875 in securing
from thirty-five hens one thousand eggs. Forty birds similarly treated produced the
following season 1500; last year forty-one hens presented us 1600; while this—so
far as it has yet passed—offers promise of a still better return.

“The fertility of our eggs is most satisfactory, very nearly all proving fruitful,
the few failing to hatch containing chicks, which through accident merely had not
reached maturity. Here again I must gratefully acknowledge the excellent practical
instructions proffered by Mr. Tegetmeier relating to feeding specially and manage-
ment generally. We take all the pheasants with which our pens are supplied from
early hatchings, care being observed that a due admixture of wild birds’ eggs are
placed in these first sittings, thus securing a thorough change of blood.

“On or about Sept. 1 the young birds are caught up, the strongest selected,
one cock to five hens, and, with a wing cut, placed in their future home. They
require no further attention beyond the frequent supplying of fresh food and
water twice or thrice a day, reclipping the cut wing excepted.

c

58 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

“Our aviary here being within easy flight of natural coverts, we adopt clipping
in preference to pinioning, since, when the egg harvest closes, by extracting the
crippled feathers, a gradual recovery of power enables the birds one by one to effect
escape; the exodus thus permitted being generally fully accomplished in sufficient
time for a thorough cleaning and. preparation of the aviary in readiness for its
proposed future young occupants. One of the great secrets of success lies in
variety of dry and liberality of green food, together with a generous supply of
frequently changed water, gravel or road grit, ashes, chalk, and pounded bones.

“I now propose offering a few suggestions touching more particularly the
position, construction, and general management of the pheasant pens or aviaries. It
may, however, be premised that their size and the numbers of birds proposed to be kept,
greatly modifies many minor matters of detail, with reference not only to the health,
but also to the comfort of the prisoners. On the all-important question of site—fair
contiguity to the keeper’s cottage should be observed; placed at too great a distance,
a laxity, in winter more especially, of that solicitude so essential to their welfare,
is likely to be engendered; while on the other hand close proximity, above all
should there be many children, may, with all their custodian’s care, prove the cause
of great and irrevocable mischief. Total isolation, again, in the recesses of a deep,
secluded covert, renders the birds so nervously sensitive, that they are apt, upon the
slightest unexpected excitement, to lose all self-control, dash about, and thus risk
eggs, limbs, and even life.

“Our pens are placed within five yards of, and parallel to, a leading carriage
drive, a thoroughfare daily in use. From earliest youth, therefore, the birds are
more or less inured to the ever-changing sights and sounds incidental to ordinary
traffic. Their thus seeing and hearing all going on around gradually enables them
to acquire such an amount of courage, that curiosity usurps the place of fright ;
the cocks crowing joyously yet defiantly, while the hens peer inquisitively, yet
fearlessly, through the lattice of their harems. The pens should be sufficiently
shielded by trees, so as to insure in very sunny weather a grateful shade; never-
theless, too much leafy shelter is apt to prove provocative of damp and cold.
They should also, while enjoying a southern aspect, be well protected from the east
wind. Thus placed the birds are better left without any well-meant but fanciful
attempts at further increasing their comfort. The little matters above enumerated
excepted, the more they are exposed to the elements and permitted to rough it,
the healthier and more robust will they become. ,

“As in our present case here, so it frequently occurs that insufficient space
mititates against that annual shifting of aviaries on to new ground, so often recom-
mended, and upon which, so far as my experience serves me, where the utmost
attention to scrupulous cleanliness has been observed, unnecessary stress is laid.

“After the laying season, when our birds have availed themselves of the

~~ FORMATION OF PENS AND AVIARIES. 59

liberty accorded them,’ the pens are completely denuded of their contents. The
ground is trenched spade deep, thickly sown with unslacked lime, then covered
with from two to three inches of fresh clean dry loam, and finally freely moistened
with water through an ordinary garden-rosed watering-pot, when any floating lime
dust is effectually disposed of, and the young birds may with safety be introduced.

“Qur aviary, in its entirety, measures in width about 27ft., and length 108ft.,
there being, however, three transverse divisions, four square compartments are
thus formed. A small trench, one foot in depth, is dug around the whole structure.
A piece of stout wire netting, one foot six inches in width, placed with one
edge in the bottom of the trench, has its other laced with wire to the hurdles,
up the outside of which it extends nine inches, when the earth is filled in, and
rammed. The inclosure is thus rendered fox, cat, and rabbit-proof; it has further
attached to it ‘gorse bavins,’ thus securing warmth and privacy. The whole of
the other portions have now strained over them stout 14in. mesh galvanised wire
netting, the top only carefully left free, for ingress and egress of wild birds. Inside
each compartment, and parallel with the divisions, is now placed a row of bush
bavins, one against the other, tightly pressed together, forming an inverted letter V.
On the apex of these faggots the birds love to perch, preen, and doze, while a secure
retreat in case of sudden fright is offered by the little tunnel left at the base. A
few faggots may also for a similar purpose be placed leaning against the sides and
corners of the inclosure, those angles where the doors are hung excepted.

“We have also two smaller pens, alike in all respects, and attached to those
already described, but in measurement only 10ft. by 7ft. These are used for the
temporary confinement of any quarrelsome egg-destroying or otherwise refractory
bird, who can thus, until its wing is sufficiently strong for flight, remain. One of
the hurdles dividing these small pens from its neighbours—as, indeed, in each of
the interior divisions—should be easily removable to the end, that the birds can at
pleasure be driven right through into the smaller pens for the purpose of capture,
wing-clipping, &c.

“The introduction and placing about occasionally of freshly-cut fir tree
branches is judicious. With reference to aliment, the greater the variety offered
the better; and for a thoroughly trustworthy detail upon this vital point, again I
gratefully add vide ‘Tegetmeier.’ Regularity in the hours of feeding, however, is
as essential as is the quality of food administered—three times diurnally, any
unfinished débris of the previous meal having first been carefully removed, should
the repasts be neatly and delicately served, not forgetting that, while all required
is offered with no niggard hand, over-lavish generosity, only too often the mere
promptings of laziness, ought most carefully to be avoided.

“‘ Powerless are the prisoners to escape those fatal miasmatic vapours speedily
generated by decaying vegetable and animal matter, which, when permitted to daily

I 2

60 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

be trampled into the floors of the dwelling, are ever within a few inches, be it
recollected, of their respiratory organs. In connection with this matter also, it is
wise to have duplicate shallow circular galvanised iron water pans of about eighteen:
inches in diameter. They are light, and consequently more likely to undergo that
thorough and frequent cleansing so necessary.”

The best baskets for the transport of pheasants for short distances are those
made of close brown wicker; in shape they should resemble a basin turned upside
down, the part corresponding to the foot of the basin being uppermost, and forming
the only opening into the basket. Before being used this opening should be covered
with canvas, which is to be closely stitched down half way round, previously to the
birds being placed inside, and firmly secured afterwards. In these baskets they are
free from observation and molestation when travelling by rail or carrier, and from the
baskets being close and circular they are much less liable to injure their plumage
than when sent in more open and angular packages. In forwarding live birds care
should always be taken to attach a stout and somewhat loose cord across the top
of the basket, in order to serve as a convenient handle by which it can be lifted
with one hand, otherwise, in the hurry of transit, the railway porters, who cannot
be expected to use both hands in lifting every package, are certain to catch it up
suddenly by one side, and the birds are often: severely injured by being suddenly
and violently thrown against the opposite one, and necessarily very greatly alarmed.

The consideration of the best means of arranging for the transport of birds
over long distances and by shipboard, are given at length in the Appendix.

CHAPTER VII.

MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT (CONTINUED).

LAYING AND HATCHING.

,, the laying in aviaries there is but little to be said. The birds
ay usually drop their eggs about at random, consequently they should
J be looked after, and collected frequently, so as to prevent as far
as possible their being broken, which is almost certain to establish
4 the destructive habit of egg eating. Sometimes, however, hen
, pheasants will take to concealed nests, and instances are not
unknown of their sitting and hatching successfully in confinement.
q correspondent states: “In 1852 I had a cock and three hens in a
“) small place (I will not dignify it by the name of an aviary, for it is
open at the top, and the birds are pinioned or have their wings cut) ;
“ one of the hens made a nest, and sat and hatched five young ones.

These, unfortunately, the other pheasants killed directly they came from
under the mother. In 1858, the same hen sat again on eleven eggs, and hatched
seven, when I let her out into my small garden, and a better mother I never
saw; she would allow no strangers to come near her without flying at them. At
the end of seven weeks, the gapes killed them all. It was a curious sight to see
the old pheasant make her nest of ivy-leaves and hay, the former of which she
always used to cover her eggs with when she left her nest, doing so by standing
on the edge, and throwing the leaves over her back. The same hen sat again
in 1854.”

Mr. G. F. Woodrow (Keeper to the Earl of Denbigh, Newnham Paddox,
Lutterworth), writing on the subject stated: “I have half an acre of young
plantation inclosed for a pheasantry and open atthe top, so that the wild cock
birds can go in and out. I had over thirty hen pheasants and three cocks, all
with their wings cut. About ten weeks ago a hen pheasant wanted to sit on the
last egg that she layed; I took it from her, and disturbed her every day, but she
persisted in sitting without an egg for more than a week; at last I took pity on
her. One evening when I had gathered the eggs I put sixteen under her, and she

62 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

sat and hatched thirteen birds. She allowed me to lift her off the nest, and I
took her and her young and put them in a hen coop, and she has reared them
well, and quite as tame as any of my hens that I have rearing pheasants, allows
me to drag the coop on to fresh ground, and never flutters. As soon as I throw
the food in front of the coop she commences calling her young. They are now
about the size of landrails, and the whole of them living.”

To prevent the fatal habit of eating the eggs, no care should be spared, as
it is entirely subversive of any hope of success in rearing. As before stated, it may
be in great part prevented by the frequent collection of the eggs. Mr. F. Crook
truly remarks: “The male bird in confinement frequently takes to pecking the
eggs, at first only for want of something more natural to do. Having no space,
no fields and copses to roam about and amuse himself in, he pecks and pushes
the egg about. At last it gets chipped, and he tastes of its contents, and he will
not then leave it until consumed, and the abominable habit is confirmed in him.
As it is usually the male bird that commits these vexing faults, a loose hurdle
forming a corner pen, into which he can be driven, will be found most useful, as
he should only be allowed amongst the hens after they have laid their eggs for
the day; and all having been removed, a wooden egg may be exchanged for the real
one, which will soon tire him out; and the bad habit may be cured, and no loss
of time occur in the breeding season. But whether the birds are troublesome or
not in this respect, the attendants must make periodical visits to the breeding pens
for the purpose of collecting the eggs, as they should never be allowed to remain
about.”

There is no doubt but that bad management and improper feeding tend to
promote this serious evil. The frequent disturbance of the birds by the inquisitiveness
of visitors, bad and improper stimulating food, without a sufficiency of green.
vegetable diet, want of cleanliness in the pen, an insufficient or dirty supply of
water, and want of grit to assist digestion, all aid in developing the habit. Mr.
J. F. Dougall, in his “Shooting Simplified,’ suggests the following mode of
preventing the practice when once established: “In pheasantries, means should
be taken to prevent the eggs being destroyed by the male bird; and as it is
impossible to keep continual watch, the hen should be induced to seek a dark
secluded corner by forming for her an artificial nest covered thinly with straw.
Under this straw have a net of mesh exactly wide enough to allow the egg to
drop through into a box below, filled with soft seeds or shellings, leaving only a
few inches between; the cock bird cannot then reach the egg, which falls uninjured.
on the soft seeds below, and is safely removed.”

Mr. Leno writes: “I have invariably found the cocks to be the culprits.
As soon as a pecked egg is found, the cock bird should be removed, and the hens
left by themselves for a few days, to see whether he is or is not the guilty one;

LAYING AND HATCHING. 63

before putting in another cock with the hens, fill up the shell of the broken
egg with soft soap, which the fresh bird may try his hand-at. In case the first
cock has been at mischief long enough to teach the hens, there is no saving the
eggs, unless they are watched and the eggs picked up immediately they are laid, or
by partitioning part of the pen off, and straining some galvanised wire netting across
the inclosure six inches off the ground, the mesh being of a sufficient size to allow
the eggs to drop through as soon as laid on to some moss or chaff; the hens
should be driven into the wired inclosure early in the morning, and let out again
late in the evening—food and water, of course, must be placed in a small trough
for them.”

Mr. Fairfax Muckley, of Stourbridge, says: “My pheasantries are large, and
of considerable extent. My method is this: In the beginning of April I have a
bundle of larch bushes placed on each corner of the pheasantries, leaving only room
behind for one bird, and a little hole in the bushes for the hens to creep into ;
then make a place on the ground behind the bushes and put two or three sham ground
glass eggs, and also place a few anywhere about the pheasantries; they then become
accustomed to see these sham eggs and try to break them, but finding they cannot
do so, they leave the real ones alone. The hens are also induced to go into the
corners of the pheasantries and lay to the sham eggs. The great thing is to have
these in every way like real ones. Those generally used are useless, being either too
heavy or too light, and wrong in appearance. I may add that the oftener the eggs
are collected the better; but care should be taken not to disturb the hens when
behind the bushes. I had two very fine cock birds sent me this season; they ate
the eggs in the beginning, but by continually having perfectly-made sham eggs
before them they are quite cured, and over one hundred eggs have been collected
out of their pens. It is a good plan, when a hen has just laid, to take the egg
away and put a sham one in the place, particularly when you know they eat them.
At the end of the season have the sham eggs collected for other seasons.”

In consequence of the removal of the eggs as soon as deposited, and the
birds not sitting, the number laid by the hens in confinement is greatly in excess
of that produced by them in a wild state, sometimes as many as twenty-five or
thirty being laid by one hen. This extreme prolificacy tends to exhaust the birds,
and it will be found most advantageous to tum them out when they have laid a
second season, and supply their places by young poults.

It not unfrequently happens that a greater number of eggs are required for
hatching under farmyard hens than are produced by the birds in the pheasantries;
in such cases, the surplus eggs in the nests of the wild birds may be advantageously
collected. This, however, may be done in a right or a wrong way. They should
be taken before the hen pheasant begins to sit; and if removed one at a time every
other day as the bird is laying, they are certain not to have been partly hatched.

64, MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

The author of a most graphic article on the pleasures of pheasant rearing,
published in the Pall Wall Gazette, in describing the gathering of the eggs,
truly says: ‘“ Unfortunately nothing is more easy to find than a pheasant’s
nest. Like a cockney looking for a home in the suburbs, the hen pheasant seems
to prefer a lively situation near a thoroughfare, with a good view of anything that
may be going on. It needs no great practice to catch the glance of the bright
beady eye among the roots of the roadside hedgerow, or to distinguish the grey
mottled plumage among the grass and nettles in the ditch below. Look under that
heap of fallen boughs, and as likely as not there are the green-grey eggs dropped
under the very outermost, where there is scarcely a pretence at cover, although, had
she taken the trouble to force her way one half-yard further, the hen might have
laid them safe out of sight of all but ground vermin. So by dint of poking about
among the grass and the branches and brambles, by looking under furze bushes
and in hedgerows, and in the cavities formed at the foot of tree trunks, you may
come upon a good number of nests in the afternoon, should birds be tolerably
plentiful. Very likely indeed you have found too many eggs to be accommodated
under the sitting hens at your disposal. Some must be left, while other brood
mothers are sought. Whether on your second visit you find those you left, as you
left them, depends greatly upon circumstances. If you have a profusion of rooks
about your place, the chances are much against it. For those omnivorous gluttons
have as decided a partiality for pheasant eggs as any ball-going gourmand for those
of the plover. They have overrun your woods. They sit swinging and cawing on
each projecting bough that commands a prospect. They walk the slopes of your
fields, one eye closely scanning the soil for insects, the other sweeping all the points
of the compass. Nothing escapes their observation. When they see you out for an
object they follow you and mark each movement. We have very little doubt they
speedily learn to suspect your intentions, and when they see you stoop in a likely
spot, they fly down to institute an investigation whenever your back is turned. In
no other way can we possibly account for the wholesale wreck of eggs that had
been spared and sat upon until you visited them in your walk. And if you doubt
who are the culprits, try the ordeal by taste, and strychnine a nestful of eggs. You
will find the bodies of the black delinquents strewed round the fragments of the
shells.

“Nothing can be prettier than the broods of young pheasants as they are
hatched off, tame as chickens—although more graceful and active—running from the
shell, and beginning forthwith to peck about for a living. Unfortunately there are
other members of the animated creation who watch their growth and their move-
ments with even keener and more immediate interest than yourself. For some four
months to come you mean neither to shoot nor eat your confiding protégés; but
they are surrounded by sharp-set carnivora who propose themselves that’ pleasure on

LAYING AND HATCHING. 65

the. earliest possible opportunity. We do not assert that those nuisances the rooks
are dangerous in this stage of the pheasant breeding, although we should deem it
imprudent to trust them too far; but there can be no doubt about the desires of
that long-tailed hawk on the hover on the hill above, although, being a conspicuous
enemy, the precautions taken against him have almost driven him to despair. And
there a weasel is watching, popping his head at intervals out of different holes in
the neighbouring bank, undeterred by the fate of several of his family, who have
already been trapped there and gibbeted. But more dangerous than hawk or weasel
are the jackdaws. For, as these vociferous birds bear comparatively respectable
characters, they are more likely to be indulged with a licence they abuse. We know
them to be bavards: we cannot deny the family tendency to kleptomania. But we
are in the way of believing chattering to be the sign of a frank, shallow nature,
and we are apt to condone the thefts that are perpetrated with no view to profit.
In reality, the jackdaw is a deep hypocrite—a robber and a bloody-beaked murderer.
He chatters his way from branch to branch above the coops with the most uncon-
cerned air in the world—just as a human thief walks, whistling, with his hands in
his pockets, towards the prey he means to make a snatch at. Then, when he sees
himself unnoticed, the jackdaw stills his chatter and makes his stealthy swoop; and
in this way, watching while your watcher’s back is turned, he massacres a whole
family of your innocents, and the hawks and weasels get the credit of the crime.
But, after all, a gun kept upon the spot generally inspires a salutary dread. Many
of your young birds survive the perils of their cheeperhood; then the long grass in
the neighbouring bits of covert becomes alive with them, and once in that stage
they are comparatively safe. Thenceforward till the autumn they feed and thrive,
strengthen and fatten. And sport, sale, and the autumn game course out of the
question, what can be pleasanter or prettier in the way of sounds or sights than the
young birds learning to crow in your coverts as you saunter out before breakfast, or
scattered about your lawn as you dine with open windows of a summer evening;
Pace Mr. Tegetmeier, and other gallinaceous authorities, we must say that in the
way of pets we prefer pheasants to poultry.”

Many pheasant rearers are so short-sighted as to recruit their stock of eggs
by purchase, forgetting that in the great majority of cases these eggs are stolen
either from their own or from other preserves. In some cases the keepers
themselves purloin the eggs and sell them to the dealers, from whom they are
perhaps repurchased by the owner of the very estate from whence they were
abstracted. As an example of the mode in which these frauds are perpetrated, I
may adduce the following example, furnished by a correspondent:—<On a small
estate in Sussex there was a pheasantry with about seventy-five birds, and when the
laying commenced the eggs were taken up carefully two or three times a day; the
keeper had these eggs out as he got the hens ready to sit, which was three or four

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66 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

times a week, as a very large number of hens were kept. A book was kept, in
which were entered the eggs laid each day, the eggs given out being also entered
in a second column, and the number of birds hatched in a third; and the keeper
‘was directed to preserve all the eggs not hatched or bad, so that they might be
added to the number of birds, and the total of birds hatched and bad eggs compared
with the eggs laid. The first ten or twelve hens brought out good broods of from
thirteen to seventeen birds each. Afterwards they decreased, and in many cases
there were only three, and even as low as one bird in a brood. The eggs were
never more than a day or two old when first sat upon, we had often hens waiting
for the eggs, and everything was most favourable for a large return of birds. At this
time some suspicion was entertained, and for a time the keeper was more closely
looked after, when the broods at once came up to twelve and fourteen birds. But,
unfortunately, the same watchful care was not continued, and at the end of the .
season it was found that he was short upwards of seven hundred eggs, and that he
had sold upwards of thirty-five pounds worth. The sitting-house was a first-rate
one for the purpose—large, roomy, and dry. ‘The keeper’s plan was to keep back
a portion of good eggs out of each setting, and substitute bad ones in their place.
I am very far indeed from saying that this is a common occurrence; for I am glad
to say that most keepers are as anxious about their charges as their employers, and
take a pride in showing a large head of game.”

From the indisposition shown by the pheasant to incubate in confinement, it
is necessary in all cases to have recourse to the hens of the domestic fowl as foster
parents. Various opinions are offered as to the breed of fowls most suitable for the
purpose, ‘There can, however, be no doubt that it should be one of a moderate
size, and not too prolific in egg producing, as it is essential that the mother hen
should keep with the poults as long as possible, which she is not likely to do after
she commences laying. Silky fowls are strongly recommended by some, and they
unquestionably constitute admirable mothers. M. Vekemans, of the Antwerp
Zoological Gardens, where rare pheasants are reared more successfully than in any
similar establishment in Europe, employs half-bred silkies; and the late Mr. Stone,
of Sceyborwen, fully indorsed his opinion. These half-bred silkies are good sitters,
admirable mothers, and keep a long time with the young. The ordinary bantams
sometimes recommended are undoubtedly too small, not being able to cover the
poults when of any size. The employment of pure bred game hens is strongly
recommended by many breeders of pheasants, as they will defend their chicks
against any enemies that may attack them, though their natural wildness renders
their management somewhat difficult at times; any small tame ordinary hens will
answer if known as good nurses, and none others should be employed.

It is the common custom to set the hens in close boxes, with little or no
ventilation, crowded together in sitting houses. Under these conditions the nests

LAYING AND HATCHING. 67

swarm with vermin, the sitting hens become irritable and break their eggs; and
when the young pheasants come out they are infested with fleas and pediculi, and
nearly devoured alive. Moreover, the dry, stifling air of these places is destructive
to the vitality of the unhatched birds, which die in the shell either before or at
the period of hatching. Every poultry keeper knows that no nests are so prolific
of strong healthy chickens as those that the hens “steal” under hedges or in
some copse or concealed cover, from whence they emerge with a strong flourishing
brood, that puts to shame the delicate sickly youngsters reared in the close air and
dry overheated nests of the hatching-house. The nearer we can imitate Nature the
better—and if the hens hatching pheasants’ eggs can be set on the ground, covered
over with a ventilated coop—more for concealment than warmth—and this sur-
rounded by a wire run, into which the hen can come out, feed, drink, and, above
all, dust herself, at her will, the eggs will be found to hatch out much more
abundantly than when they are set in the vermin-infested, crowded pigeon holes
adopted by many keepers.

A cheaply constructed box, fifteen inches square, is shown in the woodcut.
The nest should be on the ground, there being no bottom to the box; and if
the sides and the wire work are sunk into the earth, and the latter is sparrow

ITCHING BOX. BOX AND RUN COMPLETE.

and rat proof, the hen may be supplied once daily with food and water without
entailing any further trouble. But some dry ashes should be given in which she
can dust herself.

In confirmation of my views on the subject of hatching, I have much pleasure
in quoting the following practical observations of Mr. F. Crook, who states :—«The
fault usually existing is, that an over-careful, pampering system is adopted, and
miserable broods are the result. I have experimented in a manner which leaves no
doubt upon the subject. Upon one occasion I was anxious to test the fertility of
certain pheasants’ eggs, and continued to remove the eggs from a nest in the
woods until I found the hen desirous of sitting. I left twelve eggs in the nest, and
I set thirteen at home under a hen; the pheasant brought out twelve birds, while
at home I only had three miserable birds. Similar results have many times occurred
since. As a rule, the home hatching places are too confined in area, the hens are
fed too near the nests, and are not compelled to remain off the eggs long enough,
and no amount of wetting or sprinkling with water, either hot or cold, recommended
by some writers, will compensate for a due supply of fresh air. Birds in the woods

K 2

68 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

select a dry spot, sheltered from the rains as much as possible. Sometimes they will.
carry dry leaves, soft, short straw, hay, and feathers; at other times the nest is
made in a hollow at the root of a tree, and the eggs are laid on the loose mould; or
under thick bushes, and covered with coarse grass: but in every case the nest is
never stifled, having the freest circulation of air surrounding it. If such natural
precautions alone are used, greater success may be looked for at home than when
the nests are made up in quiet, warm, small places, where the birds have but little
room to move, and the eggs get nothing but a fetid atmosphere to destroy the life
that lies beneath the shell. The term of incubation of pheasants’ eggs varies con-
siderably. I have hatched them at home at all times from twenty-two to twenty-
seven days, but in the woods they invariably turn out about the twenty-fourth day.
Those which hatch at the most natural time of twenty-four days turn out to be the
finest and healthiest birds. There is some care required in marking the dates and
number of eggs set in each nest for hatching, as by a little forethought in this.
respect, great advantages may be obtained by saving time, and retaining the services
of the sitting hen. Over each nest the date should be distinctly pencilled, thus ,4,
which means fourteen eggs were set on the 16th of April, 1881. About the ninth
day the eggs should be examined, and all those which appear perfectly clear, as
when first set, should be laid on one side as useless for hatching, but as perfectly
good for feeding the poults.”

This examination of the eggs after they have been sat on for a few days is
exceedingly desirable, as those that are unfertilised may be removed, when they serve
as food for the poults, and leave more room for such as contain live birds.

Many instruments dignified by the title of ovascopes and egg-testers have
been devised for this purpose, some with lenses, others with reflectors, &c. I have tried
the whole of them, and find them far inferior to the following simple contrivance :—
To test the eggs take a piece of stout dark coloured pasteboard (the loose cover of
a large book answers very well); in the centre of this cut an oval hole, the shape
of a pheasant’s egg, but a little smaller to prevent the egg passing through; the
margin of the hole should be evenly cut, so that the egg when placed against it
fits closely. The appearance of the board and hole is shown in the diagram. This
simple contrivance, with a paraffin or other bright lamp with a glass
chimney, is all that is requisite. To examine the eggs, take them
from under the hen on the eighth or ninth day, and, if during day-
time, go into a room perfectly darkened, except as regards the light
from the one lamp, hold the perforated board near to the glass chimney so as to
bring the opening opposite the light, then place the egg to be examined in the
opening. If it is not fertilised, it will permit the light to be partially seen through
it in the same manner as a perfectly fresh egg. It. is “clear,” and should be
reserved to furnish food for the poults when hatched. On the other hand, the

0

LAYING AND HATCHING. 69

eggs containing living chickens will be perfectly opaque, permitting no light
whatever to be seen through them except at the larger end where the air-vesicle
exists; and this transparent air chamber and the opaque dark part of the egg
containing the chick are separated by a well marked line.

It is evident that setting two or more hens on the same day is advantageous,
as the “clear’’ eggs may be removed from the whole of the nests, and the number
in those that are deficient made up from any one of the nests, a fresh batch being
placed under the hen whose eggs have been removed.

The conveyance of eggs for the purpose of hatching is tolerably well
understood by the most experienced breeders. There is nothing equal to a good-
sized basket in which they can be placed, surrounded with and separated from
one another by hay. Boxes, with bran, sawdust, cut chaff, &c., are very inferior,
as these materials shake into smaller compass by the jolting of the journey, and
the eggs frequently come into contact and are broken.

Sometimes circumstances may occur in which it is desirable to exchange the
eggs of fowls and pheasants temporarily, and that there is no difficulty in so doing
is proved by the following example :—“A keeper has for the last two years
constantly removed pheasants’ and partridges’ eggs from their nests, and substituted
either addled eggs of the same kind, which is best, or fresh hens’ eggs. The
exchanged eggs he places under common hens who act as incubators, and are made
to sit sometimes on two successive lots. As soon as the pheasants’ eggs show
appearance of being beaked or hatching, they are removed back again to those
nests which have not been forsaken, and with very good results, as the following
will show. Last month in a piece of barley, three pheasants’ nests were found
by some men who were hoeing in the ground, and it was thought advisable by the
keeper to exchange the eggs, fearing they might be stolen; a few hens’ eggs were
substituted in each nest, to which the hen pheasants returned. As soon as the
keeper from his sitting hens could obtain a sufficient number of almost hatched
eggs, he made the exchange again, placing in each nest twenty eggs; the three
broods which actually went off were fifty-nine young pheasants. The exchange is
much more likely to succeed with pheasants than partridges; with the former it is
almost a certainty. The advantages are many, and all on the keeper’s side, as he
may turn out with the old birds a larger brood than they originally would have
hatched. Nests disturbed, or those near paths, can be experimented upon; should
the birds forsake, or the nest be robbed, you are on the right side. The common
hens are sometimes kept sitting on two or three lots of eggs, which must constantly
be examined to see if they are near hatching.”

In those cases in which the nest of the pheasant is in a situation likely to
be disturbed, the plan recommended is certainly advantageous; but, under ordinary
circumstances, the eggs had better be left unmolested, as the hen pheasant is almost

70 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

certain to bring off a larger number of chicks than would result if the eggs were
shifted under a farmyard hen.

The vignette at the end of this chapter represents the head of a partridge
with a perfectly formed claw growing from the loose skin in the centre of the
lower jaw; owing to the kindness of Mr. A. H. Stokes-Roberts I had the opportunity
of examining the bird shortly after it had been shot. The drawing was made from
the specimen in a recent state.

‘

CHAPTER VIII.

MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT (CONTINUED).

REARING THE YOUNG BIRDS.

CH > UCCESS in the rearing of young birds, it cannot be too strongly
NG impressed on the inexperienced pheasant rearer, is never the reward

iS Sy) of those who practise perpetual intermeddling with the sitting hens.

CS y, All interference at the time the eggs are hatching is injurious ;

g
i

nevertheless, there are fussy people who cannot imagine that
anything can progress rightly without their assistance; when the
eggs are chipping they disturb the fowl to see how many are
billed ; this is generally resented by the hen, who sinks down on
her eggs, and most probably crushes one or two of them, and
thus renders the escape of the young birds almost impossible. It is
perfectly true that sometimes an unhatched bird that would otherwise
be unable to extricate itself, may be assisted out of the shell and survive,
but it is no less certain that for one whose life is preserved in this manner a
score are sacrificed to the meddling curiosity. of the interferer.

The chicks should be left under the hen till they are twenty-four hours old
without being disturbed; by this time the yolk which is absorbed into the intestines
at the period of hatching will have been digested, and the young birds become
_ strong enough to run from under the parent hen. If the fowl is set in one of the
coops with a wire run, such as I have recommended, she had better be left alone,
and will leave the nest herself as soon as the chicks are strong enough to follow
her. The ridiculous practice of taking the young birds as soon as hatched, dipping
their bills in water or milk to teach them to drink, and forcing down their delicate
throats whole pepper corns or grains of barley, is so opposed to common sense that
it does not need to be refuted. When young pheasants and fowls are hatched in
a state of nature, they are usually much stronger and more vigorous than those
reared under the care of man (unless, indeed, the season be so wet as to be
injurious to the wild birds), although they are not crammed with pepper corns and
other nostrums, but have to seek their first food for themselves. Nature is far

72 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

cleverer than man, but; unfortunately, the latter has not always the sense to
perceive the fact. The nearer we can imitate her in our arrangements, the more
successful we shall be.

With regard to the first food of the young chicks, there is nothing superior
to a supply of fresh ants’ eggs (as they are generally termed, although, strictly
speaking, they are the pupz, and not the eggs of the insects). For grain, I am
anxious to recommend, as the first food, a good proportion of canary seed in
preference to grits and meal. Grain when once crushed or bruised has its vitality
destroyed, and it then undergoes changes when exposed to the air: the difference
between sweet, new oatmeal and the pungent, biting, rancid meal that is generally
found in the fusty drawers of the corn-chandler, is known to all persons accustomed
to use oatmeal as food. This change, however, does not occur in the entire grain
as long as its validity exists, and hence the whole canary seed, which is readily
devoured by the young poults, is almost certain to be fresh and sweet. Moreover,
the husk contains a larger proportion of phosphate of lime, or bone-making material,
than the centre of the grain, and is, therefore, better adapted to supply the wants
of the growing birds.

To afford a supply of artificially-prepared animal food, most of the books
recommend hard boiled eggs, grated or chopped small, to be mixed with bread
crumbs, meal, vegetables, &c. Nothing, however, can be less attractive to the
young birds than the food they are frequently condemned to exist upon. I have
often seen pieces of the chopped white of hard boiled egg, dried by the sun into
horny angular particles, refused by the young birds, although on these, with bread
crumbs also dried to brittle fragments in the sun, many persons attempt to rear
young pheasants—and fail. The best substitute for ants’ eggs is custard, made by
beating an egg with a tablespoonful of milk, and “setting” the whole by a gentle
heat, either in the oven or by the side of the fire. The clear eggs that have been
sat on for a week answer perfectly well. No animal food can surpass this mixture.
The egg supplies albumen, oil, phosphorus, sulphur, &c.; whilst the milk affords
caseine, sugar of milk, and the requisite phosphate of lime and other mineral
ingredients; moreover, these are all prepared and mixed: in Nature’s laboratory for
the express purpose of supporting the life and growth of young animals, and
combined as custard form a most soft, sapid, attractive food, that is eagerly
devoured by the poults. From my own long experience in rearing many species
of gallinaceous birds, I am confident that a very much larger proportion can be
reared if custard forms a considerable proportion of their food for the first few
weeks, than on any other dietary whatever.

Many rearers of pheasants are strongly in favour of using curd, made from
fresh, sweet milk put on the fire, and when warm turned or curdled with alum,
and then put into a coarse cloth, which is to be twisted or pressed until the

REARING THE YOUNG BIRDS. 73

curd is a hard mass. There are several objections to curd as food. The alum
is a powerful astringent, and can hardly be recommended as a natural diet for
young birds. The curd so made only contains two of the constituents of the milk,
namely, the caseine and the cream. The whey, containing the sugar of milk, the
saline ingredients, and, above all, the bone making materials, is rejected, whereas,
when the milk is made into custard, the whole of the constituents are retained,
and to them is added the no less valuable ingredients of the egg. There is in
fact no comparison to be made between the nutritive values of curd and custard.

When the hens are cooped, as is necessary where numbers of pheasants
are reared, a good supply of fresh vegetable food is absolutely necessary; and I
believe that nothing surpasses chopped lettuce, as the pheasants take to it much -
more readily than they do to onions, watercress, &c., or other green food. The
greater the variety of food the better, therefore, in addition to the articles before
spoken of, a little crushed hempseed, millet, dari, and coarse Indian corn meal, if
fresh, &c., may be added.

As the mode of treating pheasant chicks by different breeders varies.
considerably, it is desirable that I should indicate the management which has
been found successful in other hands. I will first quote the practical directions
of Mr. Bartlett, the experienced superintendent of the gardens of the Zoological
Society, Regent’s Park. This paper was written for Mr. D. G. Elliot’s “ Mono-
graph on the Phasianidesx,” and I beg to return my thanks to these gentlemen
for permission to quote it im extenso. Myr. Bartlett writes :— At first the chicks
require rather soft food, but not very moist. One of the best things to give
them is hard boiled egg grated fine, and mixed with good sweet meal, a little
bruised hempseed, and finely-chopped green food, such as lettuce, cabbage, water-
cress, or mustard and cress. Meal mixed with boiled milk until it is like a tough
dough, sufficiently dry to crumble easily together with a small quantity of millet
and canary seed, is also excellent for them. A baked custard pudding, made
of well-beaten eggs and milk, is likewise of great service to the young; and
if the season is wet and cold, a little pepper, and sufficient dry meal to render
it stiff enough to crumble, should be added before baking. Ants’ eggs, meal-
worms, and grasshoppers, are also very useful. The first of these are easily
obtained in a dry state, in which condition they can be kept many months,
and are invaluable. Care should be taken that fresh and finely-chopped green food
should be given daily. Many persons are in the habit of giving gentles to young
birds; there is great danger in these; and I merely mention them, without recom-
mending their use; for, unless the person who gives them will take the trouble to.
keep them for some time in moist sand or damp earth until they have become
thoroughly cleansed, they are apt to cause purging. Many valuable birds have been
lost by the incautious use of gentles freshly taken from the carcase of some dead

L

74 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

animal; but, if well cleansed by keeping ten or twelve days after being removed
from the flesh, a few, very few, may be given in case no better kind of insect-food
is at hand. The treatment of the young birds, such as change of food, &c., must
greatly depend upon the judgment and skill of the person who has charge of them.
Much also depends upon the locality, the state of the atmosphere, the temperature,
the dryness or wetness of the season, the abundance or scarcity of insect food, and
other considerations which must serve to guide those in whose care the chicks
are placed.”

Mr. Douglas’s mode of management. is somewhat different. He truly
remarks :—‘ Although food has a.great deal to do in the rearing of pheasants,
attention has almost an equal share; and without the attention required being given,
food‘ would be of little avail. I will commence with the hatching. Never remove
your hens until the chicks are well nested, guarding the nest to keep any that
may be hatched before the last chick is strong enough to leave the nest. Never
take the first hatched from the hen—it is wrong; nothing is so beneficial in
strengthening a chick as the heat of the hen’s body. Let feeding alone for the
first twenty-four hours after the first chick is hatched; the large quantity of yolk
that is drawn into the chick within the last twenty-four hours of its confinement
in the shell is sufficient for its wants during the time specified. Next, have your
coops, set on dry turf two or three days previous to your pheasants being hatched ;
it will save a little hurry when wanted; also it will keep the spot dry, that being so
necessary on the first shift from the nest. If your turf is not of a sandy nature,
sprinkle a handful of sand on where you intend to shift your coops. The coops
being shifted daily is very beneficial to the chicks. Take care they are not let out
in the morning until such time as the sun is well up, if there is a heavy dew on the
grass, and the grass has got a little dry. I have no doubt but the continual letting
out on wet grass, previous to the sun having power to counteract the bad effects
of the cold wet dew, is the cause of many of the ills they are subject to. Feed
twice or thrice, if necessary, previous to letting out. The principal food I give for
the first fortnight is composed of eggs and new milk, made as follows: In pro-
portions, one dozen of eggs, beaten up in a basin, added to half a pint of new milk;
when the milk boils add the eggs, stirring over a slow fire for a short period to
thicken, when it will form a nice thick custard. This I give for the first three
days; then I commence to add a little of the best oatmeal and any greens the
‘garden can produce, finely chopped, fcr the next three or four days; after seven
‘days I add to their diet a little kibbled wheat—being kiln-dried previous to kibbling—
‘also split groats and bruised hempseed, occasionally a handful of millet seed; taking
care all their food is of the very best, and that the feeding-dishes are scalded in
boiling water daily. The above food I use until about three weeks old, when I add
minced meat mixed with oat or barley-meal, with the broth from the meat, the

REARING THE YOUNG BIRDS. 75

meat being composed of sheep’s heads and plucks, taken from the bone and finely
minced, and just sufficient of the broth to form a dry crumbly paste. At five
weeks old I consider a feed of good wheat and barley alternately, the last thing at
night, quite necessary, not forgetting, at this age, to add a little tonic solution
of sulphate of iron to their water daily. At this time their feathers require a
great deal of support, and if the bodily strength is not supported by a strengthening
diet, they must give way. Continue the custard up to eight weeks old, but adding
more meal to it, with the green food. Give one sort of food. at a time (just
so much that they eat it clean up), and attendance every hour from the time you
commence to feed until shut up for the night. Change the water repeatedly during
the day.”

With regard to the coops employed for the hens with young pheasants, a
form much recommended is one made like a box, 3ft. long, 2ft. wide, and 2ft. high
in front, sloping off to 1ft. high at the back, and having a movable boarded floor
that may be employed if the ground be wet. The birds ought to have a further
space of about two yards square to run in, fenced in by sparrow-proof wire netting.
A good coop of this kind is made by F. Crook, of Motcombe-street, and is shewn

in the cut. The inclosed run, which is proof against rats and sparrows, &c., affords
a sufficient space for the exercise of the young birds for the first few days after
hatching,.after which the coops should be placed without the wire runs in the spot
where the young birds are to be reared, the grass, if high, having been mown
around some short time previously, so that the young shoots and tender clover may
be growing for the use of the birds. Mr. Reynolds, of Old Compton-street, has some
admirable coops of a similar kind. The advantages of these arrangements have been
very ably set forth by Mr. T. C. Cade, of Spondon, Derby. He writes: ‘There
is a great saving of food, as small birds are excluded by the wire netting; and it
is also practicable to put down a good supply of food at night, so that the young
pheasants may be able to feed as soon as they wake, and not be kept waiting,
according to the usual plan, for two or three hours during the long summer
mornings before they are let out. My birds are never shut in the coop at night,
the wire netting being sufficient protection against vermin and cats. I do not know
whether any of your readers have ever accompanied their keeper on a hot summer
morning when he is letting the young birds out of the coops. If not, let them do
so, and but put-their noses within a foot of the coop, and I will venture to say
va

76 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

that they will never allow such cruelty again. More than a dozen birds confined,
perhaps, for ten hours in a dirty, ill-ventilated box, containing less than half a cubic
yard of air. No wonder that they look languid and drooping, and that it takes
them half the day to recover. I am far from insisting that the birds should at all
times be kept in these small yards. When they are more than a week old I would
in fine weather raise one of the sides and let them roam at their will, of course
replacing the board at night. But in wet weather and in the mornings before the
dew is gone I would keep them up, and not run the risk of their getting draggled
and chilled with running on the wet grass.” When shut in at night, which is often
necessary to avoid loss by weasels or rats, &c., they must be let out at daybreak in
the morning.

Many keepers prefer rearing the young pheasants under hens that are tethered
by a cord to a peg driven into the ground, with an open shelter coop under which they
can retreat at night and during rain. If the hen is fastened by a string her leg is
very frequently injured. She should be secured by a proper jesse such as is used by
falconers. This is made by cutting a piece of thin flexible leather of the following
shape: It is used by placing the broad part, that between A and B, round the leg of
the hen, bringing the slit A over B, and then passing the end C through both
slits, when a fastening is formed around the leg that can neither be loosened nor

aie ‘
Sen —_>

tightened by pulling. In passing the end C through the two slits care must be
taken that it goes through A first, for if it is pulled through from behind, a
slip loop is formed, which will pinch the leg of the hen. The slit at C is for the
purpose of attaching the cord by which the hen is tethered; the jesse is represented
half the size required for a hen.

In situations where such a convenience is available, there is no more
advantageous situation for newly hatched pheasants than a garden surrounded with
high walls. A very practical correspondent, writing from Kildare, says:— There
can be no better place to put young birds when newly reared than a
large walled-in vegetable garden. I always place mine, hencoop and all, near
a plot of cabbages, gooseberries, or raspberries, where they have good covert
and feeding, and, above all, are protected from any injury at night during the
period of their jugging on the ground, which they do for some time before they
fly up to roost. By feeding them at the coops four or five times a day, they will
stay in the garden until fully feathered, and able to fly over the wall to the
adjacent coverts. I have had hen pheasants that nested in the garden and hatched
under gooseberry-bushes, coming to my whistle to feed regularly every morning.

REARING THE YOUNG BIRDS. 77

If the young birds are put out into the covert, the hen and coop (as in the garden)
should be brought with them, and laid in a ride close to some very thick covert;
they should be fed there about four times a day, beginning early in the morning,
and diminishing as the birds grow strong. I feed them at this period on crushed
wheat and barley, boiled potatoes chopped fine, some boiled rice and curds, all
mixed together.”’

A very vexed question with regard to rearing of the young birds is the
supply of water. Some very practical keepers give no water whatever; others give
a very little; whilst a third set keep up an abundant supply, I am strongly of
opinion that in this, as in all other respects, we cannot possibly do better than take
nature for our guide. When hatched out naturally, there is no doubt that the
birds obtain a plentiful supply of water. Even when there is no rain, the cloudless
skies are productive of heavy dews, and the young birds may be seen drinking the
glistening drops off the grass in the early morning. Some persons maintain that
the ova of the gapeworm are taken in with the water gathered from dewdrops on
the grass; others suggest that they occur in rain-water, but there is no foundation
for either of these theories. The gapeworms doubtless, like all other entozoa,
pass the first stage of their existence in some lower forms of animal life. Although
the precise animal in this case has not yet been discovered, yet it is probably
a small worm, mollusk, or grub inhabiting the ground, as the disease is strictly
local, which would not be the case if it were disseminated by a flying insect, by
dew or rain water, or by any animals inhabiting running water. Much evil is
produced by allowing the young pheasants to drink water contaminated with their
own excrement, which is always the case if the water vessels are so constructed
that the young can run into them; where such water is used, there can be no
doubt of its injurious quality, but I cannot imagine that fresh, clear water can be
otherwise than beneficial to the birds.

A correspondent, who is-a most successful breeder of pheasants on a large
scale, and whose young stock are in splendid order, writes :—I may give as my
opinion that it is perfectly necessary to their health to have fresh spring water.
Indeed, my man last year used to go to one particular spring to supply his birds,
as it was better water. In their wild state, immediately they are out of the nest,
the hen conducts them to the water, and in our wild Devonshire hills, where a
streamlet runs in every valley, you can always see the well-defined paths of the
broods to and from the water. I have just asked my man, and he tells me that so
well are their water-loving propensities known, that poachers in large breeding
places always net in dry weather, any springs within reach of the coops, and often
with success.” Another authority says:—<«I am strongly opposed to attempting
to rear pheasants without water, as against all nature; but my keeper adheres to
his own opinion that for at least some weeks they should have it only once a day,

78 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT.

bringing forward cases of broods hatched in dry fields where no water flows. My
idea is that in a wild state they can wander in search of dew, and also feed upon
more moist and natural food than the egg, meat, and herbs that are chopped for
them when reared under hens. I am aware that it is quite a common practice
amongst keepers to deprive the little birds of water, and I cannot but feel it to be
a cruel as well as a mistaken one. I believe that dry food wants water to aid
digestion; and when birds are kept all day in small wired enclosures in the full
blaze of the sun, it seems to me that they must require water to keep them healthy ;
and I also think that if they have a little always in the pen, they will drink less
than when only given to them once a day. I saw a brood last week that had
only had water once, quite early in the morning; they were being fed again in
the evening, but would eat nothing. I then ordered some water to see what they
would do, and the little birds and the old hen went to it at once, and seemed as if
they could never have enough.” And a third, writing to me on the same subject,
states :—“I have been a rearer of pheasants for nearly thirty years. I give mine an
unlimited supply of water at all stages of their growth, and I consider that it would
be great cruelty to withhold it from them. I do not consider broods brought up by
their mothers in dry fields where no water is to be found at all to the point. How
can our poor artificial food compare with the thousand and one varieties they find
in nature, full both of nourishment and moisture, with which it is impossible for us
to supply them in confinement. I quite endorse your suggestion as regards the
great value of lettuce for pheasants. I have fed them for some years with it, and
they are very fond of it.”

On the other hand many successful keepers do not give water, or only in very
small quantity. One correspondent says:—‘‘I know a keeper who rears a great
number of pheasants each year, and he does not give them water till they are seven
or eight weeks old, at. which age they begin to eat barley and corn, and require water
to assist digestion. He says that pheasants in their wild state take the dew in the
mornings, and only in very dry weather do the old hens take their broods to water.
In very dry weather, when there is little or no dew, he sprinkles water twice a
day on the grass, but never puts any down for them until the time before stated
and when he waters the hens he does not allow the pheasants to drink. He says
that water put down for them brings on diarrhea. By allowing the grass to grow
here and there, it protects the birds from the sun, and the grass receives and holds
the dew.’’ The writer of the following letter holds the. balance very fairly between
the opposing views :—“ The giving of water to young pheasants is a point on which
yearers differ. Some consider it necessary, others that none should be given
until the chicks are a month old, while others assert that any quantity may be
given, provided it has first been boiled. Those who advocate the latter plan
fancy that the gapeworms, which are supposed to exist in bad water, are

REARING THE YOUNG BIRDS. ; 79

destroyed by the boiling process. In my opinion, much depends on the nature of
the food upon which the chicks are fed as to whether they should have water or
not; if they are fed on dry food, and the weather is warm and dry, they will
require water, but it must be very clean, and given only once a day, and must
not remain before them longer than to allow each bird to have a little. If the
birds are fed on moist scalded food, they will not require any water unless the
weather is very hot, when a little may be given as before stated. The water must
be spring or stream water, and I should advise it being given at noon. It must
also be remembered that birds reared on heavy clay land will require less water than
those reared on sandy or gravel soil; attention must also be paid to the amount of
dew which falls, supposing the birds are set at liberty before the dew has time
to evaporate. Those who argue that nature should be the guide on this point must
recollect that the rearing of pheasants by hand is altogether an artificial process,
and that therefore nature cannot be strictly followed with regard to water any more
than with regard to food.” A well-known game preserver writes on the subject
as follows :—“ My keeper is a very successful breeder and rearer of pheasants. It
seems to me (for I watched his proceedings very closely) that he gives the birds
the very smallest supply of water. He carries a bottle in his pocket when he
feeds, and puts about a wineglassful into each hen’s saucer. The hens seem
thirsty enough, and leave but little for the young birds. He feeds very sparingly
but frequently, throwing the food wide. The food for a long time was rice with
chopped boiled egg, ants’ nests, and a very few gentles. He has brought up a
great many pheasants and birds for me. One year, strange to say, out of 211 he
did not lose one. Certainly the season was favourable. Little water, and food
thrown wide round the coops, seems to be his system.”

Inquiry is frequently made as to the cost of rearing pheasants in numbers.
It is very difficult to state even an approximate sum, so much depends on the
conditions under which they are raised. For food only until they are ready to go
into the coverts, an average amount of from Is. to 1s. 6d. per head may be
stated. Mr. T. C. Cade writes: “The result of my own observations in two years
(1870 and 1878) is as follow:—In 1870 my keeper’s bill for four hundred birds
was, eggs, £5 6s. 6d.; bread, £1 12s. 43d.; milk, £2 lls. 8d.; suet, 13s. 6d. ;
* secrets,’ 7s. 6d.—£10 lls. 63d. To this must be added Indian corn, meal, and
rabbits; but I cannot give the exact quantity of each, as dogs were fed from the
meal barrel, and the rabbits were not counted; £9 8s. is, I consider, a fair
estimate of the cost of what was used for the birds—making a total of £20 for
four hundred, or 1s. each. About the ‘secrets’ I can say nothing, except that
none are required.

“In 1878, for three hundred under my supervision, the cost was, very
coarse Scotch meal, £9 15s, 6d.; milk, £3; eggs, £1 15s.; rennet, 2s. 8d.;

80 MANAGEMENT OF PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT,

wheat, 8s. 8d.; bread, 5s. 113d.; sheep’s paunches (two hundred), £1 5s.; a
horse, 10s.; a cow, 5s.; a sheep, 5s.. The last three for producing maggots. Total,
£17 12s. 94d. No rabbits were used. With this supply of food, at the cost of
a little more than 1s. a head, not only were 97 per cent. of the birds reared, but
I think they were as fine as possible.”

The cost of labour, protection, &c., varies so much in different localities and
under different circumstances that it is impracticable to draw up even a rough
average of general application.

CHAPTER IX.

THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS.

7 HEASANTS in a state of nature are particularly hardy. Being bred,
5%, as they generally are, from strong healthy parents, the few
fe weakly chickens that are produced die under that benevolent
arrangement which has been so justly termed the survival of the
fittest in the struggle for life. Consequently the most vigorous
x: i remain as brood stock, and propagate a healthy offspring. Never-

“rsa AX? theless, in some seasons, particularly during those that are wet, the
r young birds are affected by certain epidemic diseases that are difficult
either to prevent or cure; amongst the first of these may be mentioned cold or
catarrh, which is generally caused by an undue amount of wet weather acting on
birds enfeebled by too close interbreeding, or by errors in the dietary and general
management, such as undue exposure to cold winds. All that can be recommended
in case of the young birds being thus afflicted is warm, dry shelter, and the addition
of a little stimulating food, as bread soaked in ale, and spiced with any ordinary
condiment, such as cayenne or common pepper, and the moistening of the oatmeal,
or other soft food, with a solution of a quarter of an ounce of sulphate of iron in
a quart of water, using enough to give the meal an inky taste.

Cold often runs on to roup, in which the discharge from the nostrils becomes
purulent and infectious; in this case, the best mode of treatment is to endeavour
to stamp out the disease by removing and destroying the affected birds instantly,
and preventing them affecting others.

Scrofulous diseases, such as tubercles in the lungs and liver, are the result
of breeding from weak stock, from overcrowding on the same ground, and from
close interbreeding. The remedies suggest themselves; all that is required is the
employment of strong, healthy stock birds, the removal to fresh untainted ground,
and, if necessary, an introduction of fresh blood into the aviary or preserves.

Cramp in young birds is often caused by a wet, cold season, and can only be
remedied by dryness, shelter, and good feeding. In some cases false bottoms to the
coops, raised two inches off the ground, have been found very advantageous.

M

82 THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS.

The most troublesome and fatal disease is that known as “the gapes,” which is
caused by the presence of entozoa in the trachea or windpipe. For the most careful
demonstration of the cause of this disease we are indebted to Dr. Spencer Cobbold,
who contributed the following account of its history and treatment to the Linnean
Society :—

“This parasite has been found and recorded as occurring in the trachea of
the following birds, namely, the turkey, domestic cock, pheasant, partridge, common
duck, lapwing, black stork, magpie, hooded crow, green woodpecker, starling, and
swift. I do not doubt that this list might be very much extended if ornithologists
would favour us with their experience in the matter. In view of adding something
to our knowledge of its structure, and more particularly in the hope of directing
general attention to the mode of checking its ravages, I have ventured to make it
the subject of a special communication.

“My attention was recently directed to a small, diseased, almost featherless
chicken, which I at once recognised as suffering from the gapes. The bird
belonged to a brood consisting of eleven individuals, all of which were between six
and seven weeks old. The ten healthy birds had individually attained a considerable
size, an average example weighing 9} ounces; but the infested chicken had only
acquired a weight of 4 ounces, in consequence of the deteriorating influences of
impeded respiration. The strange habits of the chicken were also in keeping with
its physical peculiarities. It held itself entirely aloof from the other members of
the brood; and, as if to make up for its defective assimilating powers, tried to add
to its substance by greedily devouring everything which came in its way, thus
consuming two or three times as much as any other member of the brood.
The only interruption to its constant eating during the day arose from the act
of gaping, which took place at irregular intervals, sometimes as often as once
every minute. The extension of the neck, and consequent elongation of the
trachea, seems to have the effect of separating or unfolding the knot of enclosed
parasites—sufficiently, at least, to allow of a certain degree of expiration and
inspiration.

“Having obtained possession of the fowl, I operated upon it in the following
manner: A very small portion of carded wool having been dipped in chloroform and
placed in front of the bird’s nostrils, it was soon rendered perfectly insensible.
The skin of the neck was then divided, and the trachea slit up to the extent of
about a quarter of an inch; and introducing one prong of a pair of common

_ dissecting forceps, I removed seven Sclerostomata. Six of these parasites were united
in pairs, the odd worm being a female from which the mate had in all likelihood been
rudely torn during the withdrawal of the forceps; and if so, it escaped my
observation. After I had closed the external wound in the skin with a single
thread, the bird was permitted to wake out of its artificial sleep; and, notwith-

THE DISHASES OF PHEASANTS. 83

standing that it had parted with a drop or two of blood, it soon recovered its legs,
and ran about the table as vigorously as ever. Moreover, as if this were not
enough to satisfy me as to its almost instantaneous cure, in a very few minutes
afterwards it demolished the contents of a saucer partly filled with bread previously
steeped in milk. An occasional gape was caused by an accumulation of frothy
mucus within the injured trachea; but this obstruction the bird soon got rid of
by a few shakes of the head, attended with sneezing. The only subsequent incon-
venience to the bird arose from emphysematous distension of the cellular tissue of
the head and neck. This was on two or three occasions relieved by a slight
puncture of the extremely thin integument, the emphysema ceasing to form after
the external wound had healed. This chicken was well fed, and rapidly attained
the size of an ordinary full-grown pullet. I have since caused it to be
killed; and on dissecting the neck, although there was no scar externally, a
distinct cicatrix indicates the site of the operation on the trachea—the divided
cartilaginous rings, six in number, being united only by a thin layer of connective
tissue.

EXPLANATION OF WOODCUT.

Fig. 1. Sclerostoma syngamus, male and female. Natural Fig. 4, Lower end of the body of the male, showing the.
size. cup-shaped bursa, hard rays, lateral muscles, digestive:
Fig. 2. Upper part of the same, showing more especially tube, and round tail, Magnified 30 diameters,
the six-lobed circular lip of the female, and the mode of : :
union. Enlarged. Fig. 5. Mature egg. Magnified 220 diameters.
Fig. 8. Lower end of the body of the female, with its

Fig. 6. Egg, with contai i
mucronate caudal appendage. Enlarged. diameters. ae contained embryo, Magnified 220

“ Reverting now to the worms extracted from the trachea, I observe, in the
first place, that the females have an average length of gths of an inch, the qnalen
scarcely exceeding 3th of an inch. In both sexes the bodies are tolerably uniform

M 2

84 THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS.

in breadth throughout; and that of the female measures 1-35th, whilst the
transverse diameter of the male is only from 1-60th to 1-50th of an inch. The
heads are relatively even more disproportionate., In the fresh state the mouth
of the female was seen to be furnished with six prominent chitinous lips
(fig. 2).
In both sexes the surface of the body is quite smooth, but the female
displays a series of spirally-arranged lines which at first sight convey the idea of a
natural twisting of the body; this, however, is more apparent than real, being
likewise more marked in some individuals than in others. The body of the female,
towards the tail exhibits a decided tendency to fold upon itself; and in one
example this feature was very significant (fig. 8). The lower part of the body
preserves a tolerably uniform thickness almost to the extremity, where it is suddenly
constricted to form a short narrow mucronate pointed tail, scarcely visible: to the
naked eye. Employing a pocket lens, it is easy to observe through the transparent
integument the spacious digestive canal, surrounded on all sides by sinuous foldings
of the ovarium, tuba, and uterus—the vagina terminating laterally at a point
corresponding with the line of the upper fourth of the body. Here the male
is usually found rigidly affixed by means of a strong membranous sucker, which
proceeds from the lower end of the body. This cup-shaped appendage is formed
out of a folded extension of the skin, which thus envelopes the centrally enclosed
and rounded tail (Fig. 4). The eggs of Sclerostoma syngamus are comparatively
large, measuring, longitudinally, as much as the 1-250th of an inch (Fig. 5).
Many of the ova contain fully-formed embryos; and in the centre of the lower
third of the body of one of them I distinctly perceived an undulating canal,
probably constituting the as yet imperfectly formed intestinal tube. By whatever
mode the young make their exit from the shell, it is manifest that prior to their
expulsion they are sufficiently developed to undertake an active migration. Their
next habitation may occur within the body of certain insect larve or even small
land mollusks; but I think it more likely that they either enter the substance of
vegetable matters or bury themselves in the soil at a short distance from the
surface.”

With regard to the treatment of this disease, the plan of giving remedies
internally to remove the worms, is objectionable, as the medicine has to be absorbed,
pass into the blood, and act powerfully upon the body of the bird before its
purpose can be accomplished; its direct application to the worms is therefore
preferable. This may be accomplished by stripping the vane from a small quill
feather, except half an inch at its extremity; this should then be dipped in spirits
of turpentine; and the chick being securely held by an assistant, the tongue may
be drawn forward by catching the barbs at its base in a lock of cotton wool, and
then pulling it forward so as to expose the small opening of the windpipe, down

THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS. 85

which the feather is to be passed sufficiently far to come into contact with the
worms, and then turned round between the thumb and finger.

The turpentine at once kills the parasites, and its application excites a fit of
coughing, during which they are expelled: this mode of application requires some
manual dexterity, and at times the irritation proves fatal; olive oil in the place of
turpentine is sometimes employed.

Removing the worms by a feather is troublesome, and the operation is not
always successful. Fumigation with tobacco smoke is rarely of much avail. The
administration of turpentine or camphor is attended with danger to the chickens,
and opening the windpipe and extracting the worms whilst the bird is under the
influence of chloroform requires surgical skill.

Knowing the extremely active influence of carbolic acid on the lower forms
of animal life, I determined to try the effect of the inhalation of its vapour in the
cases of gapes that came under my notice. I have operated several times on chickens
and turkeys that were suffering severely from gapes, being almost choked by the worms.
Each bird was placed in a small deal box, the open top being covered with a cloth.
I then took a carbolic acid fumigator, consisting of a small metal saucer, heated
by a spirit lamp. On the saucer I placed about a dozen drops of carbolic acid, lit
the lamp, and put the apparatus in the interior of the box. Dense white fumes soon
filled the box, and, being of necessity respired by the bird, came at once into
contact with the worms. The operation was continued in every case until the birds
were in some danger of suffocation. They, soon, however, recovered on exposure to
the air, and on the day following the treatment were running about perfectly free
from any symptom of disease.

No special apparatus is required, as any arrangement which will serve to
volatilise a few drops of the acid will answer; the vapour of carbolic aid may be
used by putting a hot brick into the box, and pouring a few drops of the acid
upon it, or it may be volatilised by putting three or four drops in a spoon, holding
the latter over the flame of a lamp, and placing the head of the bird in the cloud
of rising vapour. I have had a good deal of experience with birds afflicted with
gapes, but have never found any treatment at all approach in efficacy that of
fumigation with carbolic acid vapour.

In very urgent cases, when the disease has so far advanced that immediate
suffocation becomes inevitable, the opening of the windpipe, as adopted by Dr.
Cobbold, may be advantageously had recourse to; or it may be resorted to when
other methods have failed. In the most far-gone cases, instant relief will follow
this operation, since the trachea may with certainty be cleared of all obstructions,
but unfortunately it requires some amount of medical and surgical skill to
administer the choroform and perform the operation.

As Dr. Cobbold observes, the most essential thing in view of putting a check

86 THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS.

upon the future prevalence of the disease is the total destruction of the parasites
after their removal. If the worms be merely killed and thrown away (say upon
the ground), it is. scarcely likely that the mature eggs will have sustained any
injury. Decomposition having set in, the young embryos will sooner or later
escape, migrate in the soil or elsewhere, and ultimately find their way into the
air-passages of birds in the same manner as their parents did before them.

The worms, after removal, ought to be burnt, and the dead bodies of any
chickens, young partridges, or other birds infested with these parasites, should be
treated in the same manner if we wish to avoid the spread of the disease.

Disease of the ovary attended by the assumption of male plumage by the
female pheasant is a phenomenon that has long attracted the attention of
naturalists. It was described by John Hunter in his “Animal Economy,” and in
the “Philosophical Transactions,’ vol. Ixx, p. 527, and also by the late Mr.
Yarrell. Although gamekeepers frequently speak of the hens thus changed in attire
under the title of mule birds, it is now perfectly well known that the assumption
of male plumage is invariably caused by disease of the ovary, and the birds
exhibiting this change are, without any exception, always barren and useless females,
not, however, necessarily old birds, as the change of plumage may result from ovarian
disease in a hen that has not laid. The change takes place to a varying extent,
usually beginning with a slight alteration of the neck feathers. In some cases it is
absolutely entire; the hen being clothed in perfect masculine plumage, not a single
feather of the body remaining unchanged. This singular modification is not confined
to the common species, but extends doubtless to the whole group. It is recorded
as occurring in the Silver Pheasant (Huplocamus nycthemerus) in the Field of
Nov. 18, 1869, and, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Leno, I had in my possession
a Golden Pheasant hen (Zhawmalea picta) in which the metamorphosis was
complete. Mr. Leno had had this bird in his possession for some years, and had
noticed the alteration increasing at each annual moult. A corresponding alteration
has been frequently observed in the female of the domestic fowl, and it is
not even confined to gallinaceous birds, being not unfrequent in the domestic
duck. ‘That disease of the ovary should cause the formation of feathers totally
distinct, not only in colour, but in form, from those previously produced, as is most
conspicuously the case of. the tippet of the Golden, or tail of the Silver, pheasant,
is a very remarkable circumstance, and one that has not yet received a satisfactory
physiological explanation.

Young broods are occasionally the subject of inflammation of the eyes, an
epidemic ophthalmia, which is exceedingly troublesome, as the eyelids become glued
together by the adhesive discharge, and the birds perish from want of food if not
constantly attended to. By way of ‘treatment the dropping into the eye a few
drops of a lotion of nitrate of silver (about three grains to the ounce of distilled

THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS. 87

or rain water) appears to promise the best results, but it should not be pane
that this is apt to stain the fingers of the operator.

It not unfrequently happens that large numbers of young pheasants die of
mysterious ailments, the causes of which are very difficult to determine. When
they have been ascertained, they have usually been traced to some injurious
substances that have been taken as food. In one case that came under my
notice, the destructive agent was sheep’s wool. A correspondent wrote, stating that
during six weeks he lost upwards of 300 young pheasants from no apparent cause,
but that subsequently he received a letter from his gamekeeper, who wrote :—“I
have found out the cause of the pheasants dying. The farmer kept his sheép so
long upon that piece of ground before I had the use of it, that the sheep lost
a lot of wool, and my young birds have swallowed it. I have opened forty or
fifty young birds, and found the gizzards quite full of wool, and the passage
stopped up, so that food could not pass. I send you four pieces of wool, which I
have taken from the gizzards of four different birds. I never had a better lot of
young birds. They hatched off strong and well, and now I have lost nearly all of
them.”

It is very probable that the sheep might have been dressed with some
arsenical or other poisonous “dip” or “wash, which would remain on the wool
and prove fatal to the young birds.

With regard to injurious substances taken as food, it is unquestionable that
‘pheasants are sometimes poisoned by yew. Prof. R. V. Tuson writes:—<One of
a number of pheasants, suspected to have been poisoned, was sent to me for
analysis. On examining the alimentary canal and its contents for the mineral and
vegetable substances most commonly used in malicious poisoning, none were detected;
but in the craw of the bird I discovered yew leaves. Comminuted leaves of the
same noxious plant were also found in the gizzard, and by its odour, &c., distinct
evidences of its existence in the intestines were likewise obtained. I reported
that, in my opinion, the bird was killed through the eating of yew leaves. I have
never before met with, or even heard of, an instance in which yew has proved
fatal to birds.” It is probable. that it may be only in exceptional instances that
the birds feed upon the leaves, and that this may account for the fact that
pheasants are often kept without injury in coverts abounding with yews.

The blossoms of some species of firs have been supposed to be fatal to the
young birds. A correspondent wrote to me as follows:—‘ Having hatched out
three lots of pheasants, the hens in the coops and the young birds were put under
some high fir trees, with a very dry piece of mossy turf underneath. There was
rather a wet day soon after the birds were put out, and in about forty-eight hours
afterwards the young pheasants began to die with what the keeper considered
cramp. They appeared to lose the use of their legs, seemed paralysed, and tumbled

88 THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS.

over and died. I directed the keeper to have one opened, and its crop was full
of the bloom which falls from the fir tree, a specimen of which I inclose. The
birds were immediately moved under young oak trees, and not a single bird has
failed since.’? The substances inclosed that had been taken from the crop of the
young pheasants were the male or false blossoms of some species of fir. These
blossoms consist of anthers only, and fall off when they have shed the pollen or
fine dust they contain. I regret that I was unable to ascertain the particular
species of fir under which the birds were placed.

Another frequently unsuspected cause of death in pheasants is the habit they
acquire of picking up and swallowing shot when in coverts that are much shot
over. Mr. J. Hindle Calvert, F.C.S., made the following valuable communication
to the Field in 1876, and his inferences have been since amply confirmed by
myself and others who have made post-mortem examinations in similar cases. Mr.
Calvert wrote :—“ The following cases of lead poisoning in pheasants may be of
interest to those who have large pheasant preserves. A gamekeeper brought me
for inspection a hen pheasant which was partially paralysed in the. legs, and low
in condition. On killing the same and opening the gizzard I found thirteen
leaden pellets of various sizes; the grinding action of the gizzard had disseminated
the lead with the food, and the bird was surely but safely undergoing the slow
process of lead-poisoning. This was very evident on applying the usual chemical
tests, as I readily detected lead dissolved in the food, and also traces in the blood
taken from the region of the heart. Two days after this the gamekeeper brought
another live bird. This one had been in a sickly condition for two or three weeks,
and was quite emaciated. The legs were paralysed, and the feet drawn in a similar
manner to the drop-hand, when lead has been the cause of poisoning in the
human subject. On opening the gizzard I found four pellets, so that there is little
doubt that this bird would soon have’ died from the effects of lead-poisoning.

“T understand last year some score of pheasants died in the same preserve,
all of them showing symptoms same as above related. Both years the poisoning
happened after the coverts had been shot through. No doubt the birds pick up
the pellets under the delusion of being either food or grains of sand; perhaps the
latter. When the birds died last year the cause of death was attributed to there
being too many left for breeding purposes; rather a strange reason, seeing that the
birds had been decimated on the shooting day.

‘Others may have experienced something similar to the above, without being
able to give a satisfactory reason for the birds dying; but where you have paralysed
limbs and a gradual falling off in condition, and should this happen some weeks
after the covert has been shot through, then they may suspect that lead-poisoning
is a probable cause.”

TR BRIEFS

CHAPTER X.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

THE COMMON PHEASANT (PHASIANUS COLCHICUS) AND
ITS VARIETIES.

Nits te ; N commencing the description of the different pheasants adapted to
the covert, the common species (Phasianus colchicus) claims the

first place, as it is more generally distributed and better known
than any of the more recent introductions. Although not
equalling some of them in size, or gorgeousness of plumage, it
‘__ is by many sportsmen preferred in consequence of its rapid flight
Vp AWS, and active habits. It is, however, only in the remote districts
of the country that it is now to be found in a state of purity,
as the introduction of the Chinese and Japanese species has given
rise to so many cross bred varieties that in many places a purely bred P. colchicus
is a rarity. Thus in the district of the Humber we are informed by Mr. John
Cordeaux that “The pure old breed untainted by any cross is now seldom to be
met with, excepting in a few localities furthest removed from the great centres of
game preserving. With these few exceptions, our resident birds are a mixed race,
exhibiting in a greater or less degree the cross between the old English bird and
the Ring-neck (P. torquatus).”’ This statement is equally true of all the well
preserved districts of England, in many of which the varieties are still more complex
in consequence of the introduction of the Japanese species (P. versicolor).

Under these circumstances, I have thought it desirable to quote the description
of the common pheasant from the first volume of Macgillivray’s “ British Birds,” 1837,
inasmuch as the author’s descriptions are admirable for their accuracy and attention
to detail, and at the date at which it was published, the common species had
not in Scotland been generally crossed with any of the more recent importations.:

The following is Macgillivray’s description of the two sexes of Phasianus
colchicus :—

“ Male.—The legs are stronger; the tarsi, which are stout and a little compressed,
have about seventeen plates in each of their anterior series. The first toe, which is

N

90 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

very small, has five, the second twelve, the third twenty-two, the fourth nineteen
scutella. The spur on the back of the tarsus is conical, blunt, and about a quarter
of an inch long. :

“The feathers of the upper part of the head are oblong and blended, of the
rest of the head and the upper part of the neck imbricated and rounded, of the
fore-neck and breast broad, slightly emarginate or abruptly rounded; of the back:
broad end rounded, of the rump elongated, with loose filaments; of the sides very
long, of the abdomen downy, of the legs soft and rather short. Directly over the
aperture of the ear is a small erectile tuft of feathers. The wings are short, very
broad, curved, rounded, of twenty-four quills; the primaries attenuated from near
the base, rounded, the third and fourth longest, the first equal to the seventh; the
secondaries broad, rounded, and little shorter than the primaries. The tail is very
long, slightly arched, remarkably cuneate or tapering, of eighteen tapering feathers,
of which the lateral are incurved, the central straight. Four pairs of the longest
tail feathers are concave above towards the end, or channelled.

“The bill is pale greenish-yellow, the nasal membrane light brown or flesh-
coloured. The bare papillar patch on the side of the head is scarlet, in parts
approaching to arterial blood-red, or at some seasons crimson. The eyelids are flesh-
coloured, the iris yellow. The feet are light grey, tinged with brown, the claws
light chocolate brown.

“The feathers of the upper part of the head are deep brownish-green, with
yellowish marginal filaments. The upper part of the neck is deep green behind,
laterally and anteriorly greenish-blue and purplish-blue. The lower part of the neck
is reddish-orange, anteriorly tinged with purple; the breast and sides brownish-yellow ;
each feather terminally margined with purplish-blue, the dark margin indented in the
middle, but the indentation gradually diminishing on the breast. The middle of the
lower part of the breast is blackish-brown, glossed with green, the margins of the
feathers being of the latter colour. The, fore part of the back is yellowish-red, each
feather slightly margined with black, and having a central oblong spot of the same.
The scapulars are redder, with a slight black tip, the central part dull yellow mottled
with dusky, margined with a black band. On the middle of the back the feathers
are somewhat similarly variegated, with additional spots of light blue and purple.
Those on the rump are of a deep red, with green and greyish tints. The inner
wing-coverts are similar to the scapulars, but edged externally with dark red, the
outer yellowish-grey, variegated with whitish and dusky. The quills are light
brownish-grey, variegated with pale greyish-yellow; the secondaries more tinged
with brown on the outer edges. The tail is dull greenish-yellow, variegated
with yellowish-grey, the feathers with ‘narrow transverse bars of black, a broad
longitudinal band of dull red on each side, the loose margins red, glossed with
green and purple. On the abdomen and legs the feathers are dull greyish. .

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THE COMMON PHEASANT. 91

brown; under the tail variegated with reddish. The lower surface of the wing is
yellowish-grey.

“ Length to end of tail 84 inches; extent of wings 32; wing from flexure 10; tail
183; bill along the back 1;4;, along the edge of upper mandible 175; tarsus 3;'5; first
toe 4, its claw 33,; second toe 17%, its claw 3%;; third toe 2%, its claw 35; fourth toe
1,5, its claw 44 twelfths.

“Of three other individuals, the length 34, 35, 86 inches.

« Female.—The female is similar in form to the male, but with the tail much
shorter. The bill and feet require no particular description. The anterior scutella of
the tarsus are about seventeen in each row; the first toe has five, the second fifteen,
the third twenty-two, the fourth eighteen. As in the male, there is a bare space
under the eye, but scarcely papillar, and more feathered. The feathers of the upper
part of the head are somewhat elongated; those of the rest of the head short;
of the neck and body oblong and rounded; of the rump not elongated as in the
male.

«The general colour of the upper parts is greyish-yellow, variegated with black
and yellowish-brown; the top of the head and the hind-neck tinged with red. The
wing-coverts are lighter; the quills pale greyish-brown, mottled with greyish-yellow,
as in the male. The tail is yellowish-grey, minutely mottled with black, and having
in place of transverse bars, oblique irregular spots of black, centred with a pale
yellow line. The lower parts are lighter and less mottled, the throat whitish, and
without spots. The bill is horn-colour, tinged with green; the tarsi wood-brown,
the toes darker, the claws of the same tint.

“Length 26 inches; extent of wings 30; wing from flexure 93; tail 113; bill
along the back 14; tarsus 24; first toe 4, its claw 34;; second toe 1;4, its claw 7%;
third toe 11%, its claw 74; fourth toe 1,4, its claw 75.

Several well marked and perfectly permanent varieties of this species are
not uncommon. One of the best known is the so-called Bohemian pheasant, in
which the entire plumage is much less glossy, the general ground colour being of a
creamy tint; the head, neck, and spanglings on the breast and tail showing the
dark markings in varying degrees of intensity in different specimens. The appearance
of this variety is admirably given in the engraving, which renders any more
detailed description unnecessary. The Bohemian pheasant is, as it were, accidentally
produced from the common form in different localities, and the variation, like many
others, is hereditary, and may be therefore propagated by careful selection of brood
stock. Thus Mr. Stevenson, in his “ Birds of Norfolk,’ informs us that in that
county, like certain light varieties of the common partridge, they are confined to
particular localities:—*They have been found in different seasons in some coverts
at Cranmer; and in the autumn of 1861, I saw three fine examples killed, I believe,
in Mrs. Hardcastle’s preserves at Hanworth near Cromer, one of which, even in its

N 2

92 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

abnormal plumage, showed a decided relationship to the Ring-necked cross, by
the white mark on either side of the neck’”—a circumstance also noticed by
Macgillivray. .

A purely white variety of the common pheasant occasionally occurs in
the coverts without any apparent cause. A correspondent, who has been a
pheasant rearer for thirty years, writes:—“ Four years ago a nest of thirteen eggs
was brought in by the mowers. All the eggs were hatched; eleven were perfectly
white birds, the other two the common colour. Nine of the white birds were
reared—six cocks and three hens; three cocks were turned out, the others were kept
in the pheasantry, pinioned. The white pheasants proved very bad layers—very
delicate, their eggs very bad; and those that were hatched very difficult to rear, and
there never was a white bird bred. The extraordinary thing is, that where the nest
was taken up the keepers had never before or since seen a white pheasant. The
three cocks tured out never (to my knowledge or the keeper’s) were the cause of
white pheasants or pied pheasants being bred, and the three all disappeared in the
second year. On another part of my estate a white cock pheasant was bred; he
was considered a sacred bird, and lived seven years, when he disappeared. In the
covert he resorted to I killed one pied pheasant, and I believe that one bird was the
only pied pheasant (if bred through him) that ever was seen.’’ By careful breeding
there is no doubt that a permanent white race might be established if such a
proceeding were thought desirable, which I much doubt, as white varieties are
generally very deficient in hardihood. Left to’ themselves, the white cocks are
doubtless driven away from the hens by the stronger and more vigorous dark birds,
and rarely increase their kind. When mated in pheasantries the natural colour has
a strong tendency to reproduce itself, and white, or even pied or parti-coloured birds
are not always to be produced from white parents, as the following letters will
show :—“On the manor of. a friend in Yorkshire are a cock and hen pheasant
entirely and purely white. They inhabit different woods, and are strenuously
protected by the head keeper, who considers their presence a proof of the integrity
of his coverts, and invariably requests strangers to spare them. ‘There are also a
few ring-necks in the coverts, which have bred so freely with the common sort
that hardly a cock pheasant is killed but shows some marks of white about his
neck, while pied birds are so rare that the few that have been shot have been
preserved. If, then, white pheasants breeding with ring-necks and other birds
produced, as a rule, pied birds, why should there not have been every year at
least one brood of pied pheasants in these woods in the same proportion as the
half-bred ring-necks?” Another correspondent writes :—“ A white hen was confined
in the pheasantry here for some years with a common pheasant, but of the progeny
there was not one pied bird. A pied cock was then confined with a common hen
pheasant, and there were a few of the chicks pied. Lastly, a pied cock and a pied

THE COMMON PHEASANT. 93

hen were confined together, and invariably every one of the chicks was pied. I have
tried the experiment frequently with the same results.” And a third states :—“TI
deny that the cross between the white and common pheasant will produce pied,
when both are pure bred. I have tried the cross in confinement for years, and
never procured one pied bird from it; and before the pied breed were introduced
into the preserves here, we had abundance of white cocks and white hens, and,
believing at that time that the pied was the result of a cross between the white
and common pheasant, I used to watch the nides of every white hen, and was
surprised that in no instance was there one pied chick, though some were white.”

The explanation of the difficulty of breeding pied birds from a white and a
coloured parent, and the ease with which ring-necks are produced and perpetuated,
is soon given. Ring-necks are derived more or less directly from the P. torquatus,
a permanent race or species, that has a strong tendency to reproduce its like; but
white and pied birds are merely accidental variations, and not even a thoroughly
established breed, and therefore are not prepotent in propagating their like, but
have a strong tendency to throw back to the original stock from which they were
derived.

CHAPTER XI.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT (CONTINUED).

THE CHINESE PHEASANT (PHASIANUS TORQUATUS)
AM ar AND ALLIED RACES.
ox

SS

ONSUL SWINHOE, Mr. Dudley E. Saurin, Pére David, and
other naturalists, who have recently investigated the fauna of the
Chinese empire, unite in confirming the belief that this pheasant
- (P. torquatus) is the most common species in China, abounding
in vast numbers in the hill coverts and cotton fields. Mr. Saurin
states: “The common Chinese pheasant is found everywhere in the
north of China. I am not aware how much further south they are

fe Ba Sh
AE

tion of the country by the Tai-pings, they are shot by hundreds.
Thousands are brought down to the Pekin market in a frozen state by the
Mongols, from as far north as the Amour. At the new Russian port of Poussiet,
conterminous with the Corea, the same pheasant abounds. I myself have seen
them wild in the Imperial hunting grounds north of Jehol, and in the mountains
near Ku-peh-kow.”

Consul Swinhoe says that it is very common near Hankow, and at all the
places that have been visited by Europeans north of the Yangtze. Formosa
swarms with these birds; the specimens found there, however, differ from those of
the typical race by having the ochreous feathers on the flanks exceedingly pale,
and the eye nearly white.

The specific name ¢orquatus is derived from torquis, a chain or collar. worn’
around the neck. This species was introduced into England a great many years
since, long before the time of Latham, who described it as having been turned
out in preserves on many estates. No birds could be better adapted for our coverts;
being natives of a cold part of China, they are very hardy—a character which
they display by laying early in the season, and by producing an abundant supply
of eggs. The species is of smaller size than the common pheasant, its extreme

‘(smgonbsoy snumsvyg) LNVSVEHd ASANIHO

a

THE CHINESE PHEASANT. 95

length not exceeding 2ft. 5in., which is about 6in. short of that of the common
bird; its eggs, which are of a pale olive stone colour, are smaller, being about
lin. long by liin. in breadth. The pure Chinese is a bird of bold flight,
rising through the covert with great quickness, and then pursuing a swift, straight
course. It is unquestionably a most ornamental addition to our game birds, being
valuable not only for the beauty of its plumage, but also for the delicacy of its
flesh. The breed is, however, kept in a state of absolute purity with some difficulty,
as the males are apt to wander to “fresh fields and pastures new.” Hence crosses
between it and the common species are very prevalent; these constitute what
are usually called the ring-necked pheasants. These cross-bred birds are perfectly
fertile, not only with either pure race, but also inter se. They are, however,
variable in plumage, the amount of white in the neck varying from four or five
feathers to a nearly complete circle, and the feathers on the flanks being intermediate
between the beautiful spotted buff of the pure Chinese and the dark colour of the
common bird. These ring-necks are now common in most parts of the country
where pheasants are preserved. The good points of the Chinese are largely shared
by their half-bred progeny; hence the cross between the common and the Chinese
is a valuable introduction to our preserves, retaining as it does to so great a degree
the beauty and early fertility of the pure Chinese race, to which it adds great
hardihood and larger size, but the birds are generally regarded as more apt to
stray, and some gourmets maintain they are not quite so good a bird on the table
as the pure-bred P. colchicus.

The extent to which the interbreeding of the two species has taken place
is well shown in the following interesting account taken from Mr. Stevenson’s
“ Birds of Norfolk ”:— In its semi-domesticated state, like our pigeons and
poultry, the common pheasant crosses readily with its kindred species, and to so
great an extent has this been carried in Norfolk that, except in the wholly
unpreserved districts, it is difficult at the present time to find a perfect specimen of
the old English type (P. colchicus) without some traces, however slight, of the
ring-neck, and other marked features of the Chinese pheasant (P. torquatus), and in
many localities of the Japanese (P. versicolor). In looking over a large number of
pheasants from different coverts, as I have frequently done of late years in our
fish market, I have noticed every shade of difference from the nearly pure-bred
ring-neck, with its buff-coloured flanks and rich tints of lavender, and green on the
wing and tail-coverts, to the common pheasant in its brilliant but less varied
plumage, with but one feather in its glossy neck just tipped with a speck of white.
Some birds of the first cross are scarcely distinguishable from the true P. torquatus,
and are most gorgeous objects when flushed in the sunlight on open ground; but
as the ‘strain’ gradually dies out, the green and lavender tints on the back begin
to fade, and the rich orange flanks are toned down by degrees; though still the

96 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

most marked feature of all, the white ring on the neck, descends from one generation
to another, and the hybrid origin of the bird is thus apparent long after every other
trace of its mixed parentage has entirely passed away.”

The Chinese pheasant has been introduced into several parts of the globe with
success. The rapidity of its increase in New Zealand has already been noticed. As
long since as the year 1513 it was acclimatised in the island of St. Helena under
very peculiar circumstances, as related by Brookes in his history of the island.
Fernandez Lopez, having deserted from the army of A. Albuquerque at Goa, was
exiled, along with a number of negroes, and banished to St. Helena, being supplied
with roots, seeds, poultry, and pheasants for turning out. These were of the species
now under consideration. Berries and seeds being abundant in the island, the birds
became wild, throve amazingly, and on the visit of Capt. Cavendish in 1588 he
found them in great abundance and admirable condition. In 1875 we are informed,
in Melliss’s “St. Helena,” “ that they still exist abundantly, and quite maintain the
characteristics mentioned by Cavendish. They are protected by game laws, which
permit them to be killed, on payment of the licences, for six weeks in the summer
or autumn of each year, and hundreds of them are generally killed during one
shooting season. They find plenty of covert, and generally make their nests in the
long tufty fields of cow-grass (Paspalum serobiculatum).” Mr. Elliot informs us
that the present representatives differ somewhat from their ancestors in the coloured
markings of the plumage, a result doubtless owing to the influence of a change of
climate acting through many generations. Possibly one influence may be due to
the change of diet. We are informed by Mr. J. English Torbett that the ripe seeds
of the Calla ethiopica, so common as a greenhouse plant in this country, are much
sought after by the pheasants in St. Helena, and that it forms a large portion of
their food.

The characters of this species were given in minute detail by the late
Mr. Gould, in his magnificent folio, “The Birds of Asia”; they are as follows :—
“The male has the forehead deep green; crown of the head fawn colour, glossed.
with green; over each eye a conspicuous streak of buffy white; the naked papillated
skin of the orbits and sides of the face deep scarlet or blood red, interspersed
beneath the eye with a series of very minute black feathers; horn-like tufts on each
side of the head; throat and neck rich deep, shining green, with violet reflections;
near the base of the neck a conspicuous collar of shining white feathers, narrow
before and behind, and broadly dilated at the sides; the feathers of the back of the
neck black, with a narrow mark of white down the centre of the back portion, and
a large lengthened mark of ochreous yellow within the edge of each web near the
tip; the feathers of back and scapularies black at the base, with a streak of white
in the middle, then buff surrounded with a distinct narrow band of black, to which
succeeds an outer fringe of chesnut; feathers of the back black, with numerous

THE CHINESE PHEASANT. 97

zigzag and crescentic marks of buffy white; lower part of the back, rump, and
upper tail coverts light green of various shades, passing into bluish-grey at the
sides, below which is a mark of rufous; breast feathers indented at the tip, of a
rich reddish chesnut, with purple reflections, and each bordered with black; flanks
fine buff, with a large angular spot of beautiful violet at the tip; centre of the
abdomen black, with violet reflections; under tail coverts reddish chesnut; wing
coverts silvery-grey; wings brown, the primaries with light shafts, and crossed with
narrow bars of light buff; the secondaries similar, but not so regularly marked as
the primaries; tail feathers olive, fringed with different shades of reddish violet, and
crossed at regular intervals with’ broad, conspicuous black bands, passing into
reddish-brown on the sides of the basal portion of the six central feathers; bill
yellowish horn-colour ; irides yellow; feet greyish-white. The female has the whole
of the upper surface brownish-black, with a margin of buff to every feather; the
throat whitish, and the central portion of the under surface fawn colour; flanks
mottled with brown; tail buff, barred with dark brown, between which are other
interrupted bars of the same hue. These marks are broader on the two central
feathers than on the others, and, moreover, do not reveal the edge on either side.”

Closely allied to the ordinary Chinese pheasant is a bird which has been
described as a distinct species by Consul Swinhoe, under the title of the Ringless
Chinese Pheasant (P. decollatus). It was obtained by him at Chung-king-foo, in
Szechuen, and a somewhat similar bird was procured by Pére David at Moupin,
near the Thibetan boundary. I cannot but regard these birds as more than mere
local varieties of the ordinary Chinese species, and must refer those who wish to
trace the slight distinctions between them to Mr. Elliot’s “ Phasianidee,’’ in which they
are figured. In the same magnificent folio will be found engravings of the Mongolian
Pheasant (P. mongolicus), the Yarkand Pheasant (P. insignis), and Shaw’s Pheasant
(P. shawii); all closely allied to the common Chinese species, if not merely to be
regarded as geographical variations from it. None of these forms are known in a
living state in Hurope, and consequently do not require detailed notice in the
present work.

CHAPTER XII.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT (CONTINUED).

THE JAPANESE PHEASANT (PHASIANUS
VERSICOLOR).

fis APAN, among the numerous objects of interest with which it
hace’ i ly has furnished Europe, has supplied us with the most gorgeous of
the true pheasants—the P. versicolor. It is doubtful, indeed,
whether any of the gallinaceous group, magnificent as many of them
are, can surpass this bird in resplendent brilliancy. The wonderful
dark grass green of the breast, that no painter can equal, the
dark blue of the neck, and the brilliant scarlet of the face, taken
together, constitute one of the most effective combinations of colour
to be found in the whole class of birds. This splendid addition
to the fauna of Great Britain was utterly unknown in a living state in Europe
fifty years since. In 1840 a few birds were brought to Amsterdam from Japan.
Of these a pair passed into the possession of the Earl of Derby—the grandfather
of the present Earl—a man whose memory as a zoologist will be green when party
strife is forgotten. Of this pair the female died, and the breed was established
by crossing the male with several females of the ordinary species, and then pairing
the half-bred progeny with the old male, and continuing the breeding back until
the offspring were no longer capable of being distinguished from the original bird.

At the death of the Earl the Knowsley collection came to the hammer.
A number of the versicolor pheasants, including the original bird, were purchased by
Prince Demidoff for his preserves in Italy, and others passed into the possession
of Mr. J. J. Gurney, of Norwich, by whom they were introduced into the preserves
of that country. Since that period other specimens have been imported, and at the
present time the P. versicolor is established as a denizen of many of our preserves.

In form, habits, and disposition the P. versicolor corresponds closely to our
common pheasants. As a game bird it is, both in the covert and on the table, of
undeniable excellence.

‘(ojonsiaa snumsoyg) LNVSVGHA ASANVaVE

ES ES,

THE JAPANESE PHEASANT. 99

As the bird has in many cases crossed freely both with the common and the
Chinese species, it is desirable to give an accurate and detailed description of its
plumage. For this purpose I shall again have recourse to Mr. Gould’s “Birds of
Asia,”’ and reproduce his elaborate description of the two sexes.

“The male has the forehead, crown, and occiput purplish oil green; ear tufts
glossy green; chin, throat, and sides and back of the neck glossy changeable bluish
green; back of the neck, breast, and under surface deep shining grass green, with
shades of purple on the back of the neck and upper part of the breast; feathers
of the back and scapularies chesnut, with buffy shafts and two narrow lines of buff
running round each, about equi-distant from each other and the margin; lower part ©
of the back and upper tail coverts light glaucous grey; shoulders and wing coverts
light greenish grey, washed with purple; primaries brown on the internal web, toothed
with dull white at the base; outer web greyer and irregularly banded with dull white;
tertiaries brown, freckled with grey, and margined first with greenish grey and then
with reddish chesnut; centre of abdomen and thighs blackish brown; tail glaucous
grey, slightly fringed with purplish, and with a series of black marks down the centre,
opposite to each other at the base of the feathers, where they assume a band-like
form; as they advance towards the tip they gradually become more and more irregular,
until they are arranged alternately, and in the like manner gradually increase in size;
on the lateral feathers these marks are much smaller, and on the outer ones are
entirely wanting, those feathers being covered with freckles of brown; orbits crimson
red, interspersed with minute tufts of black feathers; eyes, yellowish hazel; bill and
feet horn colour.

“Compared with the female of the common pheasant, the hen of the
present bird has all the markings much stronger, and is altogether of a darker
colour. She has the whole of the upper surface very dark or blackish brown, each
feather broadly edged with buff, passing in some of the feathers to a chesnut hue;
those of the head, and particularly those of the back, with a small oval deep spot of
deep glossy green close to the tip; primaries and secondaries light brown, irregularly
barred with buff, and with buffy shafts; tertiaries dark brown, broadly edged with
buff on their inner webs, and mottled with dull pale chesnut on the outer web, the
edge of which is buff; tail dark brown, mottled with buff, and black on the edges,
and crossed by narrow irregular bands of buff, bordered on either side with blotches
of dark brown; on the lateral feathers the lighter edges nearly disappear, and the
bands assume a more irregular form; throat buff; all the remainder of the under
surface buff, with a large irregular arrowhead-shaped mark near the top of each
feather; thigh similar, but with the dark mark nearly obsolete.’’

The habits of the Japanese pheasant in its native country were first
described by Mr. Heine, the naturalist attached to the American expedition to
Japan, and the following observations by him were published in Commodore Perry’s

0 2

100 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

“Japan Expedition.” ‘ After the treaty of Yokuhama had been concluded, the United
States squadron proceeded to Simoda. A friendly intercourse with the natives was
established, and I constantly availed myself of Commodore Perry’s kind permission
to make additions to our collections in natural history. One morning, at dawn of
day, I shouldered my gun and landed in search of specimens of birds, and that
day had the good fortune to see, for the first time, the Versicolor pheasant. The
province Idza, at the southern extremity of which the port of Simoda is situated,
forms a long neck of land extending. from the island of Niphon, in a southerly
direction, and is throughout mountainous, some of the mountains being from 4000
to 5000 feet high, The valleys are highly cultivated, presenting in the spring a
most luxurious landscape. The tops of the mountains and hills are in some places
composed of barren rocks, and in others covered with grass and shrubs, producing
an abundance of small berries. Between those higher regions and the fields below
the slopes are covered with woods, having, for the greater part, such thick under-
growth that it is scarcely possible to penetrate them. Following the beautiful valley,
at the outlet of which the town of Simoda stands, for about four miles, I came to
a place where the Simoda creek divides into two branches. Selecting the eastern
branch, I soon left fields and houses behind me, and ascending through a little
gulley, I emerged from the woods into the barren region. It was yet early in the
morning ; clouds enveloped the peaks and tops of the hills; the fields and woods were
silent, and the distant sound of the surf from the seashore far below rather increased
than lessened the impression of deep solitude made upon me by the ‘strange scenery
around.

“The walk and ascent had fatigued me somewhat; I had laid down my gun
and game-bag, and was just stopping to drink from a little spring that trickled from
a rock, when, not ten yards from me, a large pheasant arose, with loud rustling noise,
and before I had recovered my gun, he had disappeared over the brow of a hill. I
felt somewhat ashamed for allowing myself thus to be taken so completely aback ;
but, noticing the direction in which he had gone, I proceeded more carefully in pursuit.
A small stretch of table-land, which I soon reached, was covered with short grass
and some little clusters of shrubs, with scattered fragments of rocks; and as I heard
a note which I took to be the crowing of a cock pheasant, at a short distance, I
availed myself of the excellent cover, and crawling cautiously on my hands and
knees, I succeeded in approaching him within about fifteen yards. Having the
advantage of the wind and a foggy atmosphere, and being moreover concealed by
the rocks and shrubs, I could indulge in quietly observing him and his family. On
a small sandy patch was an adult cock and three hens busy in taking their breakfast,
which consisted of the berries already mentioned growing hereabouts in abundance.
From time to time the lord of this little family stopped in his repast and crowed
his shrill war-cry, which was answered by a rival on another hill at some distance.

THE JAPANESE PHEASANT. 101

At other moments again, when the sun broke forth for a short time, all stretched
themselves in the golden rays, and rolling in the sand shook the morning dew from
their fine plumage. It was a beautiful sight, and I looked upon it with exceeding
pleasure; so much, indeed, that I could not find the heart to destroy this little scene
of domestic happiness by a leaden shower from my fowling piece. Suddenly the
birds showed signs of uneasiness, and I soon discovered the cause in a Japanese
root-digger coming from the opposite direction. I therefore took up my gun, and
standing on my feet, raised the birds also, and as they flew towards the next hill,
I had the good fortune to bring down the cock with one barrel of my gun, and
one of the hens with the other.

“The Japanese, who came up after I had loaded my gun and secured my
game, looked with some astonishment at the stranger, for I was certainly the first
foreigner who had been in pursuit of game on the hunting grounds of Niphon. He
evidently asked me several questions, which I was not, of course, able to understand,
but from his signs, and the frequent repetition of the word “ statzoo”’ (two), I inferred
that he inquired whether I had fired twice in such quick succession with one gun.
I nodded and explained to him as well as I could the nature of my double
barrelled gun, and the use of percussion caps, which seemed to astonish and delight
him very much. A pipe of tobacco which I offered was gladly accepted ; and in
answer to a question that he appeared to understand, he gave me the name of the
pheasant as Ki-zhi. Later in the day more people came to the hills, some for the
purpose of digging roots, others to look after their cattle, which appeared to be
turned out to graze on the hills. The birds had taken to the bushes, where I could
not follow them, and so obtained no more specimens on that occasion.

“A few days after, Lieutenants Bent and Nicholson, and myself, made another
shooting excursion to the hills, but although we saw many pheasants, but a single
specimen was shot, and the birds appeared to be very shy. We observed several
Japanese with matchlocks about the hills, firing away at a great rate. As we
did not see either of them with game, and as the game laws of Japan are very
severe, so much so, indeed, that their observance has been made a special article
of the treaty with the United States, I concluded that the firing was only for the
purpose of driving away the pheasants to places where they would be more secure
from the strangers.” :

These three species of pheasants—the Versicolor, Torquatus, and Colchicus—
readily breed with each other, and the mixed progeny, from whatever parentage,
are perfectly fertile. The effect of this introduction of foreign blood in our common
breed has been amazing, producing an increase of size and vigour, and beautiful
variations in the plumage, dependent on the species whose blood predominates in
the cross.

Nothing can be more interesting than the production of these beautiful

102 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

mongrels, which increase so rapidly that Mr. Gould considers in twenty years’ time
it will be difficult to find a true species in this country. This, however, he regards
as of little moment, as fresh birds can always be obtained from their native
countries, Asia Minor, China, and Japan. All naturalists, however, are not of Mr.
Gould’s opinion. Mr. Blyth informed me that the P. versicolor and P. torquatus
are kept distinct in two neighbouring copses at Lord Craven’s, not intermixing,
although at a comparatively short distance from each other, and that he believes,
although these species will cross when in confinement, that in the open country
the birds of each species would select their proper mates and produce pure bred
offspring.

The cross between the Japanese and common pheasant is a bird of brilliant
plumage, easy to rear, of greater size than the average of English birds, and the
flesh is very tender and well flavoured. In Norfolk this very beautiful cross was
introduced some few years back by Mr. J. H. Gurney, who bred most successfully,
both at Easton and Northrepps, from the birds he obtained at the Knowsley sale
and the common pheasant (though chiefly with the ring-necked cross), and produced

magnificent specimens; the eggs being greatly sought after by other game preservers
in this district, the race soon: spread throughout the county. “From personal
observation and inquiry, however,’’ writes Mr. Stevenson, “during the last two
or three years, it appears evidences of this cross, even in the coverts where these
hybrids were most plentiful, are now scarcely perceptible; the strong characteristics
of the Chinese bird apparently absorbing all the less marked, though darker tints of
the Japanese. One of these birds, killed in 1853, weighed upwards of four and a
half pounds, and many examples, which were stuffed for the beauty of their
plumage, will be found in the collections of our country gentlemen.”

The absorption of the Japanese in the more common race is not surprising,
when the small interfusion of new blood is taken into consideration, but with the
fresh introduction of new blood, and the care in the preservation of the cross-bred
birds, there can be no doubt a permanent breed would result, bearing the same

relation to the pure bred Japanese that the common ring-neck does to the pure
blooded Chinese species.

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SG@MMERRBRING. PHEASANT (Phasianus Semmerringii).

CHAPTER XIII.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT (CONTINUED).

SEMMERRING’S PHEASANT (PHASIANUS
SG@UUERRINGII).

SNOT]

(\EMMERRING’S pheasant is a second exquisitely beautiful species
inhabiting Japan, in parts of which it is very numerous, being
commonly exposed for sale in the markets of Nagasaki. In
other districts of the country its place seems to be supplied by
ESA the Phasianus versicolor. The bird was known to Temminck by
KS De ’ the dried skins; but recently the living animal has been intro-
YSMyEM, duced into aviaries in Europe, and it has bred in the zoological

Na) gardens in London and Antwerp. In the Regent’s Park Garden it
first bred, according to Mr. Bartlett, in 1865, when the female laid
ten eggs, but only a few birds were hatched, and the young birds died in a few
days. Since then the breeding has been more successful, and mature specimens
have been reared.

The species, however, is but ill-adapted to breed in confinement, as the males
are excessively pugnacious—not only destroying one another, but even killing the
females. This tendency is probably developed by captivity, and no doubt, if placed
in a free range, Scemmerring’s pheasant would prove as fertile as the other species,
but the experiment has never yet been tried. Mr. Bartlett, writing of this species
in Elliot’s monograph, says :—‘“‘ Amongst the Phasianide some species are remark-
able for their pugnacious and fierce dispositions; not only the males, but frequently
the females destroy each other. The want of sufficient space and means of escape
among bushes, shrubs, and trees is no doubt the cause of many females being
killed when kept in confinement; and this serious misfortune is unhappily of no
rare occurrence. After the cost and trouble of obtaining pairs of these beautiful
birds, and they have recovered from their long confinement on the voyage, their
owner is desirous of. reaping a reward by obtaining an abundant supply of eggs as
the birds approach the breeding season, when, alas! he finds that some disturbance

104 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

has occurred, the place is filled with feathers, and the female bird, from which he
expected so much, is found dead or dying, her head scalped, her eyes picked out,
or some other serious injury afflicted. I have found some species more inclined to
this cruel practice than others, the worst, according to my experience, being the
P. semmerringu.”’ Mr. Elliot justly remarks that this is a sad-account of such a
beautiful bird, and he also suggests the right remedy when he states that doubtless
this evil could be abolished by planting thick clumps of bushes in their inclosure,
into which the hens could retreat and escape from the persecution of the males;
if kept in large enclosures covered with shrubs, and filled with growing grass,
there should be no. difficulty in rearing these birds, especially if a due supply
of fresh vegetable food be daily given.

Our knowledge of the habits of this magnificent bird in its native state
is very limited. The best account which has been published is in Commodore
Perry’s “Japan Expedition’’—one of those magnificent and expensive scientific
works so liberally published by the American Government. Commodore Perry
writes :—

“This is undoubtedly the most beautiful of all the true pheasants, and will
compare in richness and brilliancy of colour with almost any other species of bird
In the adult male the neck and back are of a deep golden red, with a metallic
lustre of great beauty, but the female is exceedingly plain and unpretending.

“Like the Versicolor, the present is only known as a bird of Japan; and but
few years have elapsed since it was first introduced to the attention of naturalists
by the celebrated Professor Temminck, well known as the most distinguished of
European ornithologists. It appears to inhabit the same districts of country as the
Versicolor, and to subsist on much the same descripton of food; but we regret to
say that the gentlemen of the expedition had no opportunity for observing this
species to such an extent as to enable us to make any important contribution to
its history.

“Nothing having previously been published in relation to this beautiful
pheasant, we have exerted ourselves to obtain all available information, and have
great pleasure in again acknowledging our obligations to Mr. Heine, the accom-
plished artist of the expedition, for the following note :—

“On one of my excursions I came very suddenly upon another species of
pheasant, of very beautiful colours, and with a very long tail. Being in the midst
of briars, and in an inconvenient position, I missed him, or at least did not injure
him further than to shoot off his two long tail feathers.

“* Returning on board in the evening, I found that our chaplain, the Rev.
George Jones, had purchased a pheasant of the same kind from a J apanese root-
digger in the hills. It was not wounded, or otherwise injured, and seemed to have
been either caught in a trap or found dead. To my inquiries of the Japanese

S@MMERRING’S PHHASANT. 105

Dutch interpreter, whether these birds were ever hunted, I could obtain but evasive
answers; but if, however, such is the case, the right is undoubtedly reserved to
the princes and nobility.

“*Tt appears that both these kinds of pheasants inhabit similar localities,
and are abundant over the southern and the middle parts of the island of Nipon,
for even during my rambles in the vicinity of Yokuhama, in the Bay of
Yeddo, I could hear their calls in the little thickets and woods scattered over
the country.’

“For the following note on the bird now before us, and the preceding
species, we are indebted to the kindness of Joseph Wilson, jun., M.D., of the
United States Navy, who was attached as surgeon to the squadron of the
expedition :—

“Our acquaintance with the pheasants of Japan began soon after our arrival
at Simoda, or about the middle of April, 1854. A Japanese brought to the landing-
place a young bird, which, with the dark tips on his downy covering, and his
frequently repeated ‘peet-peet,’ might have been mistaken for a young turkey but
for his diminutive size. This interesting little fellow had been obtained by hatching
an egg of a wild pheasant, obtained in the hills, under a domestic fowl.

“«A few days after this a male pheasant in full plumage was brought to
the same place, dead but uninjured, and evidently but very recently killed. The
golden brilliancy of this bird’s plumage is probably not exceeded by any object in
nature, and is quite equal in lustre to the most brilliant markings of the humming-
birds, or the most highly burnished metal. ‘This splendid colouring covers the
whole body of the bird, merely shaded with a little copper-red about the tips and
margins of the feathers, so as to show the lance-head form of the feathers. This
specimen was taken on board the flagship Independence and preserved.

“<The specimen of the other species that I saw was shot by Mr. Heine, who
made a very beautiful painting of it. The two birds are found in the same
localities, and seem to be similar in habits.

“<The Japanese system of agriculture, although very minute, and appro-
priating all available land to some useful purpose, yet affords abundant shelter for
the native fauna. Scarcely any land is tilled except such as can be watered, so
that the tops of hills and large portions of mountainous and precipitous places are
appropriated to the growth of timber, or left covered with the primitive forest.
These wooded districts afford shelter for wild hogs, foxes, and raccoons (the skins
of which were seen), as well as for the pheasants; and they all descend in turn to
plunder the crops, or steal the chickens in the valleys. During the first part of our
stay at Simoda, the cultivated fields afforded no food for the pheasants. The natives
told us there were plenty in the hills; but no one was willing to undertake to show
them, and several rambles through the bushes where these birds were supposed to

P

106 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

feed ended in disappointment. Once only I had a glimpse of a brood of young ones
near a hut in the mountains, but they immediately disappeared by running very
rapidly. Perhaps one reason of our want of success is to be found in the fact that
the wheat was ripe, and partially harvested before we left (June 24th), so that during
the time of our efforts they were enabled to fill their crops occasionally from the
wheat-fields, and lie very close in the hills during the day, without being under the
necessity of wandering in search of food.

««The note of one or the other of these species of pheasants was heard
frequently. On the top of a precipitous hill, about a mile south of Simoda, covered
by small pines and a very thick growth of shrubbery, a pheasant (so we were
assured by the Japanese) passed the weary hours, while his mate was on her nest,
and very sensibly solaced himself and her with such music as he was capable of
making. It was, however, anything but melodious, and may be represented as a
sort of compound of the filing of a saw and the screech of a peacock. There are
two notes only, uttered in quick succession, and represented by the Japanese name
of the bird—Ki-ji ; but the second note is much longer, louder, and more discordant,
in fact has more of the saw-filing character—Kee-jaeae. These two notes are
uttered, and if the bird is not disturbed they are repeated in about five minutes.
A good many attempts, perhaps twenty, to become better acquainted with this
individual all failed. It seemed impossible to make him: fly, though his covert was
by no means extensive.’ ”

This species is readily distinguished by the widely separated transverse bands
on the tail of the male, and the short, rounded tail of the female (8in. in length,
_ that of ‘the male being 238in.), the feathers of which are tipped with white at the
extremity. We are not aware of any hybrids between this and allied species,
although their production would be very interesting as bearing on a suggestion
made by Mr. Darwin to the effect that “if the female Scemmerring pheasant with
her short tail were crossed with the male common pheasant, there could be no
doubt that the male hybrid offspring would have a much longer tail than that of
the pure offspring of the common pheasant. On the other hand, if the female
common pheasant, with her tail nearly twice as long as that of the female
Scemmerring pheasant, were crossed with the male of the latter, the male hybrid
offspring would have a much shorter tail than that of the pure offspring of
Scemmerring’s pheasant.”—* The Descent of Man,” Vol. IL., p. 156.

The following description of the two sexes is taken from Mr. Gould’s
magnificent folio, “The Birds of Asia”:—*The male has the whole of the upper
surface and throat of a fine coppery brown, with a lighter border to each feather,
which in some lights appear of a purple hue; in others rich coppery red, and
in others again bright but deep flame colour—this latter tint being especially
conspicuous on the lower part of the back and upper tail coverts. This is the

SEMMERRING’S PHEASANT. 107

general appearance. On examining each feather singly, it is found to be grey at
the base, dark rich brown in the middle, with a broad stripe down the centre, and
on each side of dark coppery brown, with a lustrous stripe on each side of the tip;
wing coverts the same, but devoid of the lustre at the tips; a few of the greater
coverts with a narrow bar of creamy white at the tip, within which is a still
narrower one of black. Primaries dark brown, crossed by irregular broken bands
of a tawny hue; secondaries dark brown, freckled near the tip with tawny, and a
large patch of deep rufous near the end of the outer web, becoming much paler
at the extremity; on’ the tips at the inner webs of several of them the double mark
of white and black, as on the greater coverts. Tail rich chesnut red with black
shafts, and crossed at intervals of about two inches with a narrow irregular band
of black and a second broader and more decided band of the same colour—the
space between the bands being of a similar but paler tint than the body of the
feather; the second band of black, moreover, becomes broader, and gradually
blends with the general colours of the feathers as they approach the extremity.
On some the intermediate pale band is white; feathers of the under surface marked
like the upper, but the bordering is not luminous, and terminates in dull grey,
within which, on the lower part of the sides of the abdomen, is a narrow line of
white; eye orbits red; bill brown colour; feet bluish-brown colour.

“The female has a patch of dark brown at the back of the head, with a
narrow bordering of rufous at the end of each feather; feathers of the head and
upper surface generally mottled with rufous, with a narrow edging of black at the
tip, and with a stripe down the centre, which on the sides of the neck and shoulders
is white, and on the other parts deep buff; rump and upper tail coverts deep rust
red, each feather faintly barred with dark brown, some of the wing coverts marked
at the tip with black and white, as in the male, but the marks are broader, and
not so pure; throat deep buff, feathers of the under surface brown, largely striped
down the centre, and tipped with pale or creamy buff, and bordered on each side
with tawny; tail short, central feathers greyish brown, freckled with dark brown;
lateral feathers rufous, crossed obliquely near the tip with dark brown, beyond
which the end is white.”

Under the title of P. scintillans, a variety of this pheasant has been
described as a distinct species, but it appears to differ only in the male having the
feathers on the back more or less completely margined or tipped with white.

CHAPTER XIV.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT (CONTINUED).

REEVES’S PHEASANT (PHASIANUS
REEVESTI).

ARCO POLO, the old Venetian traveller, who returned to
‘Venice in 1298, after a residence of seventeen years in
Tartary, was evidently acquainted with the magnificent species,
now known as Reeves’s Pheasant. In the language of his
original translator, whose quaint orthography I have followed,
e is made to state, “There be plenty of Feysants and very greate

tenne spannes long, from the Kingdom of Erguyl or Arguill,
the W. Side of Tartary.” This description can only be applicable
to the species now under consideration. From this time, until described by Latham
and Temminck, this bird was comparatively unknown, except from the inspection
of Chinese drawings. Sonnini, who preceded Temminck, concludes his account by
stating that it is very possible that the bird, of which he had merely seen pictures,
‘“‘exists only in the imagination of the Chinese painters.” Singularly enough the
species was, for thirteen years, namely, from 1808 to 1821, living in the aviary of
Mr. Beale, at Macao. Dr. Bennett, in his “ Wanderings in New South Wales,”
states, “In Mr. Beale’s splendid aviary and garden, at Macao, the beautiful
Phasianus veneratus of Temminck, the P. reevesit of Gray, now commonly known
by the name of the Reeves’s Pheasant, was seen. It is the Chee-kai of the
Chinese.

“The longest tail feathers of the bird are 6ft. in length, and are placed in the
caps of the players when acting military characters. This I observed at Canton,
where some of the beautiful tail feathers (rather in a dirty condition, like the actors
themselves, who in their tawdry dresses, reminded me of the chimney-sweepers in
London on a May-day) were placed erect on each side of their caps as a decoration.

“The Chinese do not venerate this bird, as was first supposed, and which
may have caused Temminck to bestow on it the name of veneratus; but it is

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REEVES’S PHEASANT. 109

superstitiously believed that the blood of the bird possesses poisonous properties, and
that the Mandarins, when in expectation of losing their rank and: being suddenly
put to death by order of the Emperor, preserve some of it on a handkerchief in a
dried state, on sucking which they fall down and instantly expire.

“Mr. Beale’s first male specimen, obtained in 1808, was kept in a healthy
state for thirteen years; after its death he endeavoured to procure others, but did not
succeed until 1831, when four specimens were brought from the interior of China,
and purchased by him for 130 dollars; these were, I believe, taken to England
subsequently by Mr. Reeves.”’

The first bird of this species introduced alive into Europe was imported about
the year 1831 by Mr. Reeves (of the firm of Dent and Co.). This specimen was a
male. The son of this gentleman, Mr. John R. Reeves, brought a female over with
him in 1888, and the pair were in the Zoological Gardens at the same time; but
the male being old, they did not breed. Some cross-bred birds were reared from the
hen, who died in 1840, and these are now in the British Museum.

Dr. Latham, in his “General History of Birds,” gave a description of this
species from a drawing in the possession of Sir J. Anstruther, and the tail feathers,
of which he states :—T had an opportunity of seeing a bundle of thirty or forty of
these tail feathers, which were brought from China, and I found amongst them
specimens of every length from 18in. to “ft.” The species was named by Latham
P. superbus. Temminck describes it under the title of Faisan superbe in his
“Pigeons et Gallinacés,” published in 1818. At this date it was known to him
only by the two central tail feathers, and the drawings of native Chinese artists.
Subsequently, however, he obtained a skin of the male, which he figured in his
“Planches colorieés,” giving it the new name of P. veneratus. This plate was
copied on a reduced scale in Jardine’s “ Naturalist’s Library,’ published in 1834.
Dr. J. E. Gray, in his “Indian Zoology,” named the bird after the gentleman by
whom it was introduced into England, and by this name it is now generally known.

The successful introduction of the living birds now in England is owing to the
combined efforts of the late Mr. John J. Stone and Mr. Walter H. Medhurst, H.M.
Consul at Hankow. Owing to their exertions, this splendid pheasant is now firmly
established in this country, and like the P. versicolor and P. torquatus is to be seen
at large in our woods.

For several years Mr. Stone made continuous efforts to obtain this and other
' new pheasants from Northern China, but with no satisfactory results, until the aid
of Mr. Medhurst was obtained. It is mainly due to that gentleman’s thorough
knowledge of the natives of China, and of their language, that the true habitat
of this bird was ascertained, and an experienced Chinaman sent into the interior
for the purpose of collecting this and other rare pheasants, of which coloured
drawings had been supplied for his guidance.

110 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

The first three lots of birds obtained all died before reaching England, with
the exception of one male, which lived for about three months. The fourth lot was
obtained in the direction of Syechney, about thirty days’ journey from Hankow, and
from- it seven Reeves’s pheasants were deposited in the Zoological Gardens,
Regent’s Park. Since that time Mr. Stone has received several others. Mr.
Medhurst was anxious that Her Majesty the Queen should have early possession
of specimens of Phasianus reevesii; and in compliance with his wish one male
and two females were offered to and graciously accepted by Her Majesty. Since
the successful reintroduction of these birds they have bred freely both in England
and on the Continent, and are now to be purchased at many of the dealers in
pheasants.

With regard to the distribution of this bird in China, Mr. Saurin remarks :—
“The Reeves’s pheasant, called by the Chinese Chi-Chi, is very rarely seen in the
Pekin market. For a long time I failed to discover from what quarter they
came. .... Last winter I ascertained, however, that they came from the Tung-lin;
and I have reason to suppose that they are to be found nowhere else in the
province of Chi-li. About twenty birds were brought down alive last winter. They
are never brought in frozen or by Mongols. Their flesh is very delicious, and
superior, to my taste, to that of any other pheasant.”

The general character of the plumage of the Reeves’s pheasant is well shown
in the illustration. The head is covered by a cowl of white, surrounded by a band
of black, with a spot of white under the eye; the neck has a broad ring of white;
the feathers of the back and upper part of the breast are of a brilliant golden
yellow, margined with black ; those of the lower part of the breast are white, each
one presenting bands of black more or less irregular in their arrangement; the
under parts of the body are deep black; the tail is formed of eighteen feathers,
which are closely folded together, so that the entire tail appears narrow; at the
broadest part the feathers are about 2in. in breadth; the ground colour of each tail
feather is greyish-white in the centre, and golden red at the edges, and crossed
with crescent-shaped bars, which vary in number according to the length of the
feather, in the longest feathers being considerably more than fifty.

A very interesting observation was made by the late Mr. Blyth on the voice
of this species. He states:—‘TI have heard the call-note of Reeves’s pheasant, and
it was some time before I could satisfy myself that it actually proceeded from such
a bird. It is like the simple song of some small passerine bird, delivered in as high
a key as the song of the hedge sparrow (Accentor modularis), one of which happened
to be singing at the same time. A repetition of the same note seven or eight
times over, quite musical but not loud, being as unlike what would be expected
from such a bird as a pheasant, as the voices of sundry Colwmbide are utterly
different from what would have been’ expected to proceed from pigeons and doves.”

REEVES’S PHEASANT. 111

The late Mr. J. J. Stone, to whom naturalists are so much indebted for his
introduction of this and other splendid pheasants, was of opinion that the value of
Reeves’s pheasant in this country rests mainly upon its size and strength of flight,
making it the prince of game birds for our woods. In a communication to me on
the subject, he wrote :— The point I aim at is to induce the large landed proprietors
and game preservers to introduce the Reeves’s pheasant into their coverts, believing
that it will (from its wild character) afford the best sport of all the pheasants, and
from its size and the magnificence of its plumage it must be a desirable addition
to our list of game birds. I want to see Reeves’s pheasant common on the dinner
table; and there is no reason why it should not be so in a few years, seeing that
it is now being bred freely in Belgium, and may be purchased there at about the
price which the Versicolor still commands, though much longer introduced into
Europe.” Several attempts have been made to introduce this most noble of all the
true pheasants into our coverts.

Lord Lilford, writing in March, 1881, gives me the following valuable informa-
tion :—“I have kept several in pens, and found them very uncertain layers, although
one season my hen birds laid an average of twenty eggs apiece, from which a very
good proportion of young birds were hatched out. My impression is that these birds
lay best—at all events in captivity—at about their third or fourth year. My
gamekeeper, who has had charge of them, assures me that the young birds are
very hardy and easy to rear. I have in Northamptonshire (the county in which I
have tried these birds) no very large extent of woodlands of my own, and cannot
therefore tell you much of their habits in a wild state, as they are very much given
to roaming to great distances, and a good many have fallen victims in my neighbours’
woods, besides the large percentage that may be always allowed in a foxhunting
country. They have certainly crossed, though not abundantly, with the common
pheasant. The male hybrid of the first cross is a most splendid bird. Reeves’s
pheasant is a very wild, shy bird, very quick on the wing, somewhat given to
go back if possible, but quickly attains a good height in the air, giving good
rocketing shots. I found them most excellent for the table—in my opinion far
superior to the common pheasant. I believe, from what I have seen and heard of
this species, that for real success with them in this country a wide range of hill
coverts would be most eligible. I believe that Sir Dudley Coutts Majoribanks has
had great success with Reeves’s pheasants in Inverness-shire.” I am informed that
as many as sixty Reeves’s have been shot in these coverts in a single season.

Mr. J. Mayes, head keeper to the Maharajah Dhuleep Sing, writing from
Elvedon, in 1877, stated:—“I have bred the Reeves’s pheasant for the last five
or six years, rearing them by hand, and have had pretty good luck with them the
last two years, having succeeded in rearing about sixty in the two seasons; but I
find they are much healthier turned out than when penned up. (The soil here is

112 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE COVERT.

dry and sandy, which seems to suit them very well.) Two years ago I penned up
fifty very fine young birds, about half-grown; but they swelled very much about
the head, and went completely blind, and about twenty of them died, but those that
we have turned out seem to be in very good health and condition. As regards
hybridizing, I know they will do so, as three years ago a hen Reeves escaped from
the pens, bred with a common pheasant, and brought up five very fine young birds,
much larger than the common pheasant, and of beautiful plumage. This was the
only hen that had been at liberty until this year, when several more were turned
out after the breeding season, so we shall be better able to judge of their habits,
&e., next year. Their flight is very rapid—much faster than the common pheasant.”

In reply to my inquiries during the present year, Mr. Mayes writes as
follows :—‘ Regarding the Reeves pheasants, I do not consider them so fertile as
the common English or ring-necked pheasants; they do not lay so many eggs—
generally eight to ten in a nest—whereas the common pheasants lay from fourteen
to eighteen in a nest. They have crossed with the common pheasants here on a few
occasions in the coverts; when they have done so they produce remarkably fine
birds, both as regards size and plumage. They are a very shy bird, and require for
laying, to do any good, to be penned up in a quiet place by themselves; but I
have never penned any Reeves’s pheasants up with the common pheasants with a
view to cross them. Their value for showing sport lies mostly in their being good
risers, and their being stronger on the wing and flying higher than the common
pheasant. If a like quantity of Reeves’s and common pheasants were in two coverts,
the Reeves’s pheasants would show decidedly better and finer sport, as they are
much nobler birds.”

Many specimens of hybrid or cross-bred Reeves have been reared in confine-
ment. That figured in the same plate with the Bohemian Pheasant was the offspring
of a male Reeves with a Bohemian hen; it partook, as may be noticed, the characters
of both species, the tail being of intermediate length, the white cowl, cheek patch,
and neck ring of the Reeves being retained, but the splendid gudee yellow of the
body being almost entirely wanting.

Hybrids have been produced between a male Reeves’s pheasant and female
Cheer (Phasianus wallichit), but they have little beyond their size to recommend
them. In appearance they look like dirty faded Reeves’s, with comparatively short
tails. They are of large size, like the parent species, and would in all probability
partake of those terrestrial habits of the Cheer which preclude its being advantageously
introduced as a game bird, as it often refuses to rise, even when hunted or pursued
with dogs.

(mod veyounvyz) LNVSVEHA NAGCTIOON AHL

——_— 35 Miva @ Waeomagsing.
= = ———

=

CHAPTER XV.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

THE GOLDEN PHEASANT (THAUMALEA PICTA).

beauty of their plumage, the two species of the genus Thawmalea
occupy a very prominent position. These birds have been. separated
® from the more typical pheasants (which have been already
(Sz described as constituting the restricted genus Phasianus) by several
well marked characters, the most conspicuous of which are the
\ presence of a crest of silky feathers on the crown of the head, and
a tippet of broad flat feathers encircling the upper part of the
. ‘@ neck. The Golden Pheasant (Thaumalea picta) has been long known in
hy captivity in Europe; it was described by Linnzeus under the name of

1! Phasianus pictus in 1766, but of its habits in its native country nothing

Qn
);

‘’ whatever had been ascertained; even its exact locality was doubtful until

the recent explorations in China. It is now known to inhabit the mountains of
the western central districts, and it has been shot by Europeans on the banks of
the Yangstsze, one hundred miles north of Hankow. In the north of China it is,
according to Pére David, quite unknown.

In its mature plumage the male is one of the most gorgeous of the whole
tribe. The head is ornamented with a long crest of silky orange-coloured feathers.
This extends backwards over a tippet formed of broad, flat feathers, which are of a
deep orange colour, with dark blue bars across the tips; these latter form, when
the feathers are in position, a series of horizontal lines across the tippet. During
the courtship of the female this collar or tippet is brought over to the side nearest
the hen, as shown in the background of the engraving of this species; but, as the
artist, Mr. T. W. Wood, has paid more attention to these amatory displays than
any other writer, it is but right to allow him to describe for himself. “Not the
least remarkable example of the lateral mode of display during courtship,

Q

114 "PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

is that of the Golden Pheasant, whose elegant form and brilliant colouring
‘are so well known in this country. . The male runs very playfully after the
female, and, placing himself in front of her, quickly expands his collar, bringing
nearly the whole of it round to the side where it is to be exhibited, and thereby
presenting to view a flat disc of bright orange-red, banded with perfect regularity
by blue-black semicircles; the hen on seeing this frequently runs away pursued by
her would-be mate, who generally finds himself placed with his other side towards
her, and. the collar is accordingly shown on that side. At the moment the full
expansion of the collar takes place, the bird utters a very snake-like hiss, which,
according to our notions, would not be very fascinating as a love-song; the body is
very much distorted, as is the case with the true pheasants, but the tail is not
spread so much, as the curved, roof-like shape prevents its forming a flat surface.
Slight breaks would occur in the black stripes of the collar when expanded, were it
not that each feather has a second black stripe which is so placed as effectually to
vrevent this.”

Below this tippet on the lower part of the neck the feathers are deep-green
margined with velvet black; below this again are the scapular feathers of a dark
crimson; the back and rump are golden yellow; the tail itself is very long, the two
longest central feathers are covered with small irregular circles of light-brown on
a dark ground, giving them a mottled appearance; the other feathers are barred
diagonally with dark brown on a lighter ground. On each side of the base of the
tail extend the long narrow upper tail coverts of a bright orange crimson. The
wings when closed show the deep blue tertiaries covering the chesnut secondary
quills. The upper part of the throat is light-brown; the breast and under parts
orange-scarlet. Taken altogether, its appearance is so remarkable that it looks more
like one of the bizarre creations of Chinese fancy than a real bird. The birds of
this genus differ from the true’ pheasants, in the fact that the mature masculine
plumage is not assumed until the autumn of the second year; the young cocks
looking, during the first twelve months of their lives, very much like the hens,
from which, however, they can be readily distinguished by pulling one or two of the
feathers of the neck, which are reproduced of the distinctive masculine character.

The hens are very plain and unobtrusive, being barred with alternate shades
of light and dark brown. When barren, they, like the other birds of the family,
assume the more gorgeous apparel of the male.

Under the name of the Black-Throated or Java Golden Pheasant (Zhawmalea
obscura) a variety of this bird has been described as “a good species.” It is
evidently merely a variety that, like the black-winged peacock, may appear at any
time amongst birds of the ordinary type, and could never be regarded as a species
by those who have studied the subject of variation practically. It differs merely in
the upper part of the throat being darker in colour and obscurely spangled, in the

THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 115

pattern of the mottling of the upper tail feathers, and in the general darker hue
of the females and young.

One of the best and most complete accounts of the habits and management
of this species in confinement is that written by Mr. W. Sinclaire, of Belfast, and
published in Thompson’s “ Natural History of Ireland.” Mr. Sinclaire writes :—

“Golden Pheasants are very easily reared in confinement, and are quite as
hardy as any of the other pheasants, or as any of our domestic fowls; indeed, I
question if any of them are sooner able to provide a subsistence for themselves, or
to live independent of the parent bird. In the several years’ experience I have
had in the rearing of these birds, I have considered them past all danger when,
they arrived at the age of three or four weeks; in fact, at that age those which
I brought up in the garden began to leave the bantam hen which hatched them;
and take into the gooseberry bushes to perch at night; and very soon after into
the apple trees. I always observed that they roosted at the extremity of the
branches, where they were quite safe from the attacks of cats or other vermin.
This habit, together with their very early disposition to roost at night, leads me
to infer that their introduction into this country as a game bird would not be
difficult; and that in our large demesnes, where protected from shooters, they
would become very numerous. But J should imagine that they would not answer
where the common pheasants were already introduced, as they are shy, timid birds,
and would be easily driven off by the other species. The individuals before referred
to, which were reared in the garden, consisted of a family of six; they always
remained in the garden, where they were regularly fed, except at the commencement
of winter, when they ceased roosting in the apple trees, took to a belt of Scotch
firs which bounded the garden on one side, and roosted in them all the winter and
following spring. I have seen them sitting in the trees when the branches were
laden with snow, but they did not seem to suffer in the slightest degree from the
severity of winter. About the month of February they first began to wander from
the garden for short distances; and as the spring advanced, finally disappeared, and
I never could hear of their béing met with afterwards.

“Tn rearing the young I found that the very best food for them, and of which
they were most fond, was the larvee of the bluebottle fly, with a quantity of which
I always was prepared prior to the young being hatched. I took care to have a
constant supply during the season by hanging a cow’s liver over a barrel, in the
bottom of which was some bran or sawdust, into which the maggots dropped. A
fresh liver was hung up about once a week. In addition to these larvee, the
young were supplied with potatoes, alum curd,* groats, and Indian corn meal,
wlien to be had; this last I found they were very fond of, and it seemed to agree

* Custard prepared as described at page 72 will be found far superior to curd.

Q 2

116 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

with them particularly. well. .It was mixed into the form of soft dough with a
little water, which was all that was required. They were also constantly supplied
with green food, such as lettuce, when they were in the aviary. But the best way
is to have a coop, railed in front, into which they are put with the hen twenty-four
hours after they are hatched. This coop should be placed upon a gravel walk as
near to the windows of the house as possible, so that they may always be within
observation ; a small verdure garden is the best possible locality, as the young have
plenty of range, with shelter under the bushes from both sun and rain. In the
instance which I have already alluded to, the hen was allowed to range about six
feet from the coop, by means of a small cord attached to a leather strap round one
of her legs, and the other end tied to the coop; the young pheasants never
wandered far from the hen, and always came into the coop to remain with her at
night. In front of each coop a small frame was put down, boxed round on three
sides, without a bottom, and railed at top; the open side was put close to the coop,
and the young birds could run through the rails of the coop into the inclosed space,
and were safe from the night attacks of cats, rats, &c. This frame was always kept
before the coops for the first few days after the young were hatched, and until
they became acquainted with the call of the hen. When I first began to rear
young pheasants, I could not at all account for their seemingly foolish manner for
the first two or three days after being hatched; they would run gaping about
without appearing to notice the hen or her calls to them to come for food. The
reason of this I afterwards believed to have been owing to their ignorance of the
language of their foster-mother, which it took some time for them to understand ;
during this process it is necessary to keep them confined within the frame before
their coops, as, were they to wander a few yards from the hen, they would not heed.
her call, and would inevitably perish. When three or four weeks old, it is necessary,
if they are to be kept in the aviary, to pinion them, which is done by cutting off
rather more than the first joint of the wing, having previously, by means of-a
needle and thread inserted close to the small wing-bone, and brought round the
large one, just within the skin, taking up the main blood-vessels; the piece of the
wing is then chopped off on a block. There is no loss of blood, and I never could
observe that the birds seemed to suffer in the slightest degree afterwards, although
the operation I daresay was painful enough. My reason for taking off rather more
than the first joint of the wing was because I found that if only the first joint was
taken off, the birds were always able, when grown up, to get out of the aviary,
which was about 12ft. high; and I found it thus requisite to take off so much as
to render them incapable of any attempt at flying, but I left enough remaining to
enable them to reach their roosting-place at night. I furnished them with a kind
of ladder by nailing cross pieces of wood on a long piece about Sin. wide, and
which they very soon learned to walk up and down with facility. One aviary in

THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 117

which I kept some had a back wall to it covered with old ivy, and they preferred
roosting in this; indeed, I always found that, although during a wet day those which
were at liberty took shelter under a roof, yet at night they would not do so, but
would instead roost in the open air. The females will lay about twenty-five eggs
each in the aviary. I always provided them with baskets to lay in, which they
only sometimes made use of; they take twenty-four days to hatch. The young
cocks do not attain their full plumage until after the moult of the second summer;
they drop their chicken feathers when about three months old; their plumage is
then something like the hen’s, but sufficiently bright in some parts as easily to
distinguish them from the young females. In general there are more cocks than
hens.

“Tf the cock birds are placed in a portion of the aviary apart from hens,
any number may be kept together. I have had so many as twelve males in full
plumage together, and when during the summer (and indeed at all times) these
beautiful birds were going through the very curious and fanciful attitudes and
manceuvres peculiar to them, it was one of the most brilliant sights to be observed
in nature. The flashing of their various golden, crimson, blue, and purple plumes in
different lights was absolutely dazzling to the eye, and at these times they contrive
to display all the most beautiful parts of their plumage to the. utmost advantage ;
the golden crest is raised; the splendid orange and purple-tipped collar is spread
out to its full extent, while the scarlet tail coverts are shown in all their beauty.
During the whole time the birds are leaping and dancing round each other, and
uttering occasionally their peculiar shrill cry.”

Mr. Thompson states that he has never known the Golden Pheasant to live
longer than ten or eleven years, and that such as came under his knowledge “ died
almost instantaneously, and when in the highest possible condition as to flesh and
plumage,” the cause of death being evidently induced by high condition and over
fatness.

Respecting their management in aviaries still more confined for space, my
late friend Mr. Ed. Hewitt kindly gave me the following notes :—

“As I kept Golden Pheasants many years with success, a few hints may, to
beginners, be acceptable. They may with proper care be reared perfectly tame, but
have always a tendency to be alarmed at the sudden appearance of strange dogs,
cats, or even individuals; for which reason I think it advisable they should be
pinioned if allowed an out-of-door run, lest they may be tempted to fly away, or
on to the surrounding buildings; for, unlike common poultry, they are only tempted
to return with great difficulty, as the moment they get from their accustomed range
they seem as wild and uncontrollable as birds reared in a state of nature. Pinioning
can be easily managed without the slightest detriment to the appearance of the
bird. Let it, too, be always kept in mind, in handling pheasants never to lay hold

118 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

of the legs or wing, for injury is certain to ensue; but take up the bird with
both hands tightly round the body over the wings. This is the only safe way of
capture, and they then may be taken about without injury at all, either to their
plumage or to themselves.

“JT would advise aviaries for their accommodation to be covered in entirely
from the rain, as nothing tends so much to keep them in perfect feather ; and then
it will not be by any means difficult to guard them against another great annoyance
—that of cats prowling about during the night and at twilight. From this cause
numbers of pheasants of either kind have been destroyed, not from an actual hurt
received from the cat, but from the birds in their fright flying furiously against
the roof or the wirework, and scalping themselves. This may be prevented by
letting a ‘tar-sheet’ be fixed closely every night, to cover the whole of the open
work of the aviary. It has this double service: it prevents sudden rain wetting
the sanded floor and causing damp (producing rheumatism in the inmates), and by
being opaque prevents the shadow of passing cats being seen; for if they see cats
at night, the birds will fly, and thus seriously damage themselves. I found simple
canvas for this purpose of no use whatever, being semi-transparent); the tar-sheet is
effective from its density. It is on moonlight nights that the greatest danger is to
be feared, for on these occasions the cats come very long distances, attracted no
doubt by scent, and when they have once found your birds will be sure to pay them
almost nightly visits. As the birds are valued for their beauty, it will add
considerably to the perfection of their plumage to place a sufficiency of perches
for the accommodation; not spare and thin ones, but made of deal spars about
1din. square, the sharp edges being taken off with a plane. This will prevent their
tails rubbing, and, whether intended for attraction or sale, add not a little to their
value.

“In selecting the brood stock, a cock with four or even five hens will be a
fair proportion. I always prefer a cock bird of the second year, and hens of
the same age (because they lay far more eggs), though the eggs of pullets of the
preceding year are productive. The young hens will only lay ten or twelve eggs in
a season, but the older birds when carefully managed will frequently lay thirty to
forty eggs in the same period. These eggs require a longer incubation than those
of common fowls, as they generally hatch on the twenty-fourth day, though I have
repeatedly known them continue in the shell a day longer; therefore, if desirous of
rearing a chicken or two with them (to insure greater familiarity), the fowls’ eggs
must be deposited accordingly, as nothing tends so sadly to unsettle a hen at
hatching time as some portion of her chicks coming a day or two previously to the
remainder, and it not unfrequently leads to the desertion of her nest.

“The eggs should be at once removed from both Golden and Silver
Pheasants directly they are laid; the latter being especially inclined to peck

®

. THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 119

and eat them: the moment. they are produced. The best remedy I know is to
procure half a dozen artificial eggs, and let them lie about always, and then the
birds, seeing them constantly, regard them less, ‘These kinds of pheasants are
raised in confinement much more easily than the common pheasant of our
preserves, the young growing with incredible rapidity if well and frequently fed
on custard, boiled eggs, good old cheese—all chopped fine—and mixed with bruised
hemp and canary seed. The maggot produced in flesh from the blue fly will tend
very greatly to their rapid improvement. I am perfectly aware that ants’ eggs are
preferable, but when these are not available maggots will be found an excellent
substitute, and should be given daily till the poults are somewhat grown. Wheat,
hemp, and barley are the best food for the old stock. It is somewhat singular
that neither variety will agree comfortably with the common pheasants in a wood;
notwithstanding I have seen the hybrids produced between both these kinds and
the common pheasants. Both are very beautiful of their kind, the halfbred Golden
being of a strikingly rich auburn, shading into every variety of gold colour; while
“the pencillings” of the hybrid Silver are not equalled by any of the gorgeous
plumage we see in bird-skins from foreign climes. I have had opportunities of
seeing them constantly for some years, but will add that they were invariably
unprolific and sought every possible opportunity to evince their pugnacity to all
other birds confined with them.

“Both Golden and Silver pheasants will endure every severity of our climate.
Some years since, I sent some eggs of the latter, from which birds were hatched
and turned loose in a large plantation; they bred freely the ensuing year, and
well stocked the preserve; the year following some withdrew to a covert at some
considerable distance, driving away the common pheasant, taking possession of
the whole. Many were purposely shot the next winter, but proved by no means a
well-flavoured addition to the dinner-table. Some Golden pheasants’ eggs, which I
forwarded as a present to a friend whose preserves are among the largest in the
kingdom, were hatched very early last season and turned loose; these bore all the
rigours of winter as well as any others, but in the spring began to show a decided
aversion to their fellows of more sombre hue. The flesh of the Golden is far
preferable to that of the Silver ‘pheasant. The crest feathers and ‘the cowl’ (or
neck feathers) are those so universally coveted by our fishermen, and are always
saleable at high prices; for this reason a careful amateur will diligently look after
them when shed by birds kept in an aviary.”

Mr Hewitt further stated that the sexes in the chicks were easily distinguished,
the eyes of the cocks being light, those of the hens deep hazel.

Golden pheasants that have escaped to the coverts and been shot, are found
when cooked to be of very delicate flavour, and are described as being very sapid
and far preferable to the common species. These escaped birds will sometimes breed

120 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

with the ordinary species. Mr. Mayes writes to me from Elvedon: “The Golden
pheasant will cross with the common pheasant; we have had two or three instances
of their doing so the last two years, but it is rare, as we have had Golden pheasants
turned out the last ten years or more, and never knew them to cross with any
other pheasant before.’

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AMHERST PHEASANT (Thaumalea Amherstii).

CHAPTER XVI.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY (CONTINUED).

THE AMHERST PHEASANT (THAUMALEA
AMHERSTIA).

_ two male specimens presented by the King of Ava to Sir Archibald
Campbell, and by him given to Lady Amherst, who retained them
in India for about two years, and succeeded in bringing both alive
to England, where, however, they lived only a few weeks. These
“specimens were figured and described under the title of Phasianus
amherstie by Mr. B. Leadbeater in the Linnean Transactions for
1828. Since that time until recently no living specimens have
been seen in Europe, and in 1863 the male was figured in Mr.
P. L. Sclater’s list of desiderata required by the Zoological Society.
The successful re-introduction of this remarkable species is entirely owing to the
combined efforts of Mr. J. J. Stone and Mr. W. Medhurst, Her Majesty’s Consul
at Shanghai, who obtained twenty specimens in Western Yunan, eight of which
reached Shanghai alive, and six—five males and one female—were successfully
located in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, in July, 1869. Since that time
other specimens have been obtained, and there is now no fear of this magnificent
bird being lost to this continent, as it has bred freely in confinement.

The general appearance of the species is strikingly beautiful. ‘The accom-
panying engraving, though giving very correctly the general character, necessarily
fails in imparting any idea of the coloration of the male. The irides are light, the
naked skin of the face is light blue, the feathers of the forehead are green, but
the long plumes which form the crest are crimson. The tippet, which is so
characteristic a feature in the bird, is white, each feather being margined with a dark
green band, and having a second narrow band at some distance from the tip. The
front of the neck, the breast, shoulders, back, and wing-coverts are of an exquisite
metallic green, each feather being tipped with velvety black. The lower part of the
R

122 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

breast and the belly are white, the thighs and under tail coverts mottled dark
brown and white. The feathers of the rump have the exposed parts bright saffron
yellow. Ihe tail coverts are brown at the base, striped green and white in the
middle, and brilliant scarlet at the ends. The two upper middle tail feathers have
a light ground marked so as to resemble lace, with broad transverse bands of green
about an inch apart. The other tail feathers have the inner webs mottled black
and white, the outer webs with curved green bars, about three-quarters of an inch
apart. The bill is pale greenish, and the feet and legs bluish lead colour. The
female closely resembles the hen of ‘the last species (7. picta), being a rich chestnut
brown, with bars of dark brown, which are broader than those of the Golden
Pheasant hen, and the under parts are lighter in colour; moreover, the bare skin
of the face is pale blue like that of the male, but much smaller. The size of this
species is somewhat larger than that of its close ally, the Golden Pheasant. In
the male the adult plumage is not assumed until the autumn of the second year.

When Mr. Gould gave his description of this pheasant in his “ Birds of
Asia,” the male only was known, and he wrote:—‘“It would give me great pleasure
to see a female of this fine bird, and every ornithologist would be truly gratified
by the arrival of any information respecting the part of the Celestial Empire in
which it dwells, and any details as to its habits. The bird would doubtless be as
easily kept in our aviaries as its near ally, the Golden Pheasant; and it is my
ardent wish to see it thus located before I leave this lower world for the higher
and brighter one which is the end of our hopes and desires.”’ .

Every ornithologist must feel glad that Mr. Gould had his wish gratified.
Since the arrival of Mr. Stone’s specimens, Mr. Anderson, the curator of the
Indian Museum at Calcutta, has received skins of both sexes from Yunan and
Upper Burmah, where it is not rare, the plumes being worn by the natives.

The only account of the habits of this beautiful species in a wild state
occurs in a letter from Monsieur Carreau, a French missionary in Thibet, to
the Paris Acclimatization Society. He states:—‘‘The Pheasant Houa-ze-Ky, the
Flower pheasant of the Chinese, always. inhabits very rocky places. Whenever I
have seen this bird flying upwards, I have always been able to shoot it; but if it
was descending, I could not procure it, for then it disappeared with excessive
rapidity. After having pursued it several times, I have found it more convenient
to obtain it in the same manner as the natives, who lay in wait for it during the
winter and catch it in snares. When the mountains are covered with snow, and the
streams frozen, the Flower Pheasants are obliged to descend to the plains for water;
but as soon as they are satisfied, they ascend again. In the paths these birds follow
each other in a line; and as they go in flocks, and the snares are few in number.
the Chinese do not make much from the plumage and flesh of this beautiful
pheasant. Ta-lin-pin is situated in the 29th degree of latitude N., and the 102nd

THE AMHERST PHEASANT. 123

degree of longitude E.: the heat of these places is very great as they are surrounded
by high mountains, and with very little vegetation. The mountains are covered
with brambles, briars, and thorns, and also with grassy places; in these spots the
Amherst Pheasant is met with in abundance. It is an error to think that, like
other pheasants, it is met with in the forests; I have never found it there, and as
in the neighbourhood of Ta-lin-pin it only exists where there are no forests, I
doubt very much if bushy tracts are to its liking. The more rocky and desolate
the mountains, the more certain are you to find the Flower Pheasants, in companies
composed of from twenty to thirty individuals.

“The habits and economy of the Ambherst Pheasant naturally accord with
the places in which it delights; it is an extremely wild bird. Last year I kept
one of these pheasants in a stable covered with straw; it hid itself so frequently
and so well that once I was more than fifteen days in the belief that it was dead.
I fed it with bread and rice, and it bécame very fat. If this bird should be
introduced into Europe, it would be useless to endeavour to make it comfortable ;
if it has not in the aviary some place where, at the least noise, it can hide itself,
otherwise I doubt if it can be preserved. I think, from the temperature of the
mountains it inhabits, that the climate of France would be suitable for the Flower
Pheasant. These particulars respecting the Lady Amherst’s Pheasants are perfectly
exact, since I have myself frequently hunted, captured, fed, and raised them. They
would increase easily in Europe, provided they were not too much exposed to the
heat of the sun, and that shrubs were grown in the aviary to allow their hiding
when frightened.”

The breeding of the Amherst Pheasant offers no difficulty, provided it be
attempted under natural conditions, and not in the close pens, and stifling, vermin-
haunted hatching houses that are characteristic of some of our zoological collections.
Not only has the pure race been increased, but the males have also bred freely
with the hens of the gold pheasant (Thawmalea picta), and produced hybrids which
are of surpassing beauty. At the sale of the surplus stock in the Zoological
Gardens at Antwerp in 1872, a single male hybrid of this kind, in full plumage,
realised 35/., and I have recently had the opportunity of seeing four specimens of
this cross-breed in the possession of Mr. Edward Bartlett. These combine in a
remarkable degree the most attractive features of the two species from which they
are derived, and are unquestionably far more beautiful than either; compared with
them the pure bred Amherst looks pallid, and the Gold pheasant wants the
beautiful contrast of the white neck tippet and the brilliancy of the green and blue.

The whole of the four specimens so closely resemble one another that they
can scarcely be distinguished. In all the crest is fully developed, being larger than
in either parent species; in colour it is a brilliant scarlet orange. The neck tippet
is white, margined with brilliant dark green, resembling that of the Amherst, but

R 2

124 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY,

considerably more developed. The iris, which is white in the latter species, is of a
pale straw colour in the hybrids, as is the naked skin under the eye. The neck
under the tippet, as well as the throat, is a resplendent green. The breast, which in
the Amherst is white, is a brilliant scarlet orange, with a narrow transverse band
of lighter yellow about an inch below the margin of the green feathers of the
throat. The flanks are of the same colour as the breast. The back is yellow,
running into the bright scarlet orange of the tail coverts and side sickle feathers.
The wing coverts are of a magnificent dark steel blue.. In all the characters
mentioned the hybrids possess the most gorgeous hues of the two species conjoined,
The tail, however, is an exception;. that of the Amherst is certainly more beautiful
than that of the Gold, which latter, however, appears almost unchanged in the
cross-breeds, but of somewhat increased size. As, however, in the so-called species
Thawmalea obscura, the tail of the Gold tends to vary towards the markings of that
of the Amherst, and the upper part of the throat to assume a spangled character,
there would be no difficulty in breeding this cross with the Amherst tail.

The four birds are the offspring of two Gold hens mated with one male
Amherst. They are remarkably tame, feeding out of the hand, and not offering to
escape from the gaze of strangers.

Mr. Elliott, in his monograph of the Phasianide, gives a life-sized coloured
plate of this hybrid, and acknowledges that “in size and brilliancy of dress he
eclipses” both the parent species, adding :—‘“ Contrary to my intention of not figuring
any hybrid pheasants, I have been induced to show this one, merely from its great
beauty and the comparative rarity of at least one of its parents; but at the same
time I cannot but believe that all those who breed pheasants, either for pleasure or
profit, would best consult their own interests by keeping their birds as pure in blood
as possible, allowing no foreign strain to intermingle, and resolutely setting their
faces against even such a magnificent impostor as here offers himself for our
admiration.” I quote this passage as illustrative of the beauty of the birds, although
I differ entirely from the conclusions arrived at by the writer. There can be no
possible doubt of the perfect fertility of the half-bred Amhersts. They have already
been mated with the pure Amherst, and three-quarter pure-bred birds have resulted
from the union. Examples of such exist in the Zoological Gardens, both of London
and Antwerp; and these show very little trace of the Golden species, That the
half-bred Gold and Amherst will be equally fertile when mated with one another, no
one who has had any practical experience in cross-breeding the different species of
Phasionide can have any doubt; and that an intermediate breed will be eventually
perpetuated, which will possess the united beauties of both parent species, and be
perfectly permanent in its characters, is a fact which I take the liberty of
prophesying, without having the fear of the believers in the immutability and
permanence of species before my eyes,

THE AMHERST PHEASANT. 125

The perpetuation of permanent races produced by the union of two perfectly
distinct species is well known to all who do not wilfully shut their eyes to those
facts which do not square with their theories. The late Mr. E. Blyth, a most
accurate observer, and whose knowledge of species was unsurpassed, informed me that
over a large extent of India no other domestic goose is known except a cross
between the Chinese species, the Anser cygnoides, and the domesticated variety of
the grey-lag, Anser ferus.

In the case of the true pheasants, Phasianus colchicus, P. torquatus, and P.
versicolor, every variety of interbreeding takes place, and the intermediate forms can
be perpetuated as may be desired; or, as was originally the case with the P.
versicolor in this country, the pure breed can be established “from a single
individual,

Most naturalists maintain that these three pheasants are perfectly good
species; but what is the test of a species? For my own part, I am sufficiently
heterodox in my belief to regard all the true restricted pheasants, such as P.
colchicus, versicolor, torquatus, shawti, mongolicus, elegans, &c., as mere geographical |
variations of one type, capable of breeding together and perpetuating any cross
that it may please experimenters to produce; and in the same manner the two
species of the genus Thawmalea, namely, the Gold and Amherst pheasants, may be
regarded as geographical races capable of yielding a permanent race intermediate
between the two.

These views, which I maintained at the time of the publication of the first
edition of this work in 1873, have been fully borne out by the experience of the
past eight years. In March, 1881, Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the superintendent of. the
Zoological Gardens, writes to me :—* The hybrid Amherst and Gold Pheasants breed
freely inter se; but, as far as I can learn, in most cases the breeders have been
breeding the half-bred hens with the pure Amherst males, for the purpose of
obtaining as near as possible the characters of the pure Amherst; and this is very:
quickly accomplished, for in the third generation all traces of the Gold Pheasant
are lost, or nearly so.”

CHAPTER XVII.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY (CONTINUED).

THE SILVER PHEASANT (EUPLOCAMUS NYOTHEMERUS) AND
i OY ALLIED SPECIES.

. S, NDER the name of Huplocamus nycthemerus the Silver
2 Pheasant has been known to naturalists since the time of
Linneeus. In the earlier works on natural history, such as
that of Albin, published in 1738, and Edwards, in 1751, it was
termed the Black and White Chinese Pheasant, which name was
employed by Buffon; it was also termed the Pencilled and
Lineated Pheasant, and by Temminck, the Faisan bicolor.
Its native locality was first definitely ascertained by Consul
Swinhoe, who informs us that it inhabits the wooded hills in the
interior of southern China. Writing to Mr. Elliot, he states :—“This bird is known
to the Chinese as the Pih Heen, and it is one of those which are embroidered upon
the heart-and-back badges of the official dresses of the civil mandarins to denote
the rank of the wearers. So far as I have ascertained, it is found in the wooded
mountains of the following provinces :—Fokein, Canton, Kwangse, and Kweichou.
It is brought to Canton city from the province of Kwangse by the west river, and
offered alive in the shops for sale. All the birds I have seen so offered have been
captured; I do not think the Chinese had the bird in confinement. A friend
of mine shot one in some woods, in the mountains about 100 miles from Amoy
(Province Fokein), but I have never met with the species in my rambles.”
From their large size, commanding appearance, and the beauty of the markings,
Silver Pheasants have long been favourites in our aviaries. They have the additional
recommendation of being exceedingly hardy, of laying freely in captivity, and of
being easy to rear when young. They also become perfectly tame, feeding freely
from the hand. These birds could be readily domesticated, if it were thought
desirable to do so. I have known several instances where they have been allowed
to run at full liberty, and have seen the birds sufficiently tame to come and stand
before a window, waiting for their accustomed treat at the hands of the members

‘(sniomayphy snumoojdng) LNVSVHHd AAATIS AHL

THE SILVER PHEASANT. 127

of the family. The hens, though not usually allowed to do so, will readily hatch their
own eggs, and attend upon their chickens with all the care of common fowls. I
have recently seen a pair, belonging to Mr. Clarence Bartlett, in a moderate-sized
aviary, the hen of which had laid, hatched, and was rearing a strong healthy brood
of young, the cock being active in defence of his family, and attacking most
viciously any person going into the inclosure. No game cock could be more
determined or courageous in his behaviour; and the sharp spurs with which this
species is armed rendered his assault a thing to be avoided, as he flew at the face
of the intruder on his domain,

A correspondent informs me that he has “reared several Silver Pheasants in
confinement, and has turned them out about the grounds. The males are exceed-
ingly tame, but also exceedingly dangerous. Last year I had a lovely specimen,
which used to feed at the window of the breakfast-room with the peafowl and other
birds, and even knock at the glass and make its way into the room. But, in
the spring, when hatching was going on, he attacked ladies and children in the
most determined manner, always flying at the face. He would dodge people
walking, and make his appearance from under the bushes in a very unexpected
manner; on one occasion he knocked a lady down, and on another occasion entered
the drawing-room and attacked a lady who was sitting there.”

Another writer says:—‘‘I have for many years had a score of them running
loose with the poultry—two cocks, one an old one, the other a young one of last
year, just getting into full plumage; the others are hens. In bad weather and in
winter they roost in the poultry house, at other times in the trees. The males are
most pugnacious and jealous, fighting and bullying the fowls—so much so that I
am obliged to have their spurs cut off—and the hens very spiteful to young poultry.
The others I have shut up, otherwise they would fight until they killed each other.
In the breeding time they are shut up in large pens.

“TI have frequently had the hens sit on and hatch their eggs; when they
have young ones, if anyone goes near them they act like partridges. I have seen
them charge dogs and drive them away. I have also seen a cock watching a fox
stalking him, and when the fox made his rush the bird flew over him, but lost his
tail. To show how severely they can make these spurs tell, one of my keepers
kicked at an old silver cock pheasant to drive him away, when the bird turned on
him and sent his spur right through his boot. They are quite as bad as peafowls
in a kitchen garden; they will eat all the fruit. They are not very good birds for
the table—I think little better than guinea fowls; but they are useful as being
eatable in February and March.”

Even in confinement it is a long-lived bird. Mr. Thompson, in his “ Natural
History of Ireland,” states that hé has known one live twenty-one or twenty-two
years in captivity.

128 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

The male, without possessing the gorgeous coloration of many species of the
group, is a very beautiful bird. The face is entirely covered with a bright vermilion
skin, which during the spring becomes excessively brilliant, and is greatly increased
in size, so as to almost resemble the comb and wattles of a cock; the flowing crest
is blue-black, the bill light green. The upper part of the body is white, pencilled
with the most delicate tracery of black. The whole of the under parts are bluish-
black, the legs and feet red, the spurs well developed and usually very sharp. The
female is smaller than the male; her general colour is brown, mottled with a
darker tint; the crest and tail are much less ample than those of the cock; the
outer tail feathers are light, marked with black on the outer webs.- The female in
confinement usually lays from eight to fourteen eggs, and the young are most
easily reared under a common fowl.

The genus Huplocamus, to which the Silver Pheasant belongs, includes several

species. They are distinguished from the true pheasants by the crest, by the more
fowl-like form of the tail, and by the males, and sometimes even the females,
being strongly and sharply spurred. The common species, the kaleege of India,
breed very freely, even in confinement, but are not adapted for turning into the
covert, as they rise with difficulty, and their flesh is not equal for culinary purposes
to that of the ordinary pheasant. A correspondent writes :—<I have been shooting
lately in preserves where, amongst other game, I had the pleasure of seeing the
kaleege on the wing. The birds had been bred under hens from eggs taken from
old birds in a mew, treated in the same manner as pheasants, and were at this
time—the last week in December—practically as wild as the pheasants in the same
covert. A more unsporting-looking bird on the wing I never met with, or a more
unsatisfactory one to knock down. Its flight is low, never rising more than eight
or ten feet from the ground, and therefore in a line with everybody’s head, conse-
quently a most dangerous bird in a battue. Its flight is more like that of a coot
or moorhen than any bird I know; the slow, noiseless flight, and the dark plumage,
making it very like the former bird. It runs much before rising—is very savage,
driving away the other game birds, and is the most unsatisfactory game bird I ever
saw. My friend with whom I was shooting is therefore killing them down.”
. Twelve different species of kaleege have at various times been shown in the
Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park. Of these the greater number have bred either
with their own species, or have produced hybrids with other Euplocami. Amongst
those that breed the most freely may be mentioned Swinhoe’s pheasant (Z. swinhoit),
the purple kaleege (#. horsfeldi), the black-backed kaleege (H. melanotis), and the
white-crested (#. albo-cristatus). The different species of Kuplocami hybridise
together even in a wild state, and there is no difficulty in rearing a very large
series of hybrids in captivity.

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THE EARED PHEASANT (Crossoptilon Mantchwricum).

CHAPTER XVIII.

‘4

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY (CONTINUED).

THE EARED PHEASANT (CROSSOPTILON
MANTCHURICUN).

, F the remarkable group of birds known as the Eared Pheasants,
) constituting the genus Crossoptilon, four species are known, though
only one, the Mantchurian (C. mantchuricum), has been received
in Europe in a living state.

The eared pheasants differ in many very essential particulars
from the more common species. Both sexes are alike in plumage,
. and are only to be distinguished by the presence of spurs on the
legs of the males. The large size and peculiar character of the tail
4 coverts separate them from any allied group. The first specimens
i seen alive were presented to the Zoological Society by Mr. Dudley E.
i Saurin, in 1866; since that time others have been imported, and a con-
siderable number have been bred in this country and on the continent.

The Mantchurian Eared Pheasant is more remarkable for the singular
arrangement of its plumage than for brilliancy of colouring, in this latter respect
not approaching the gorgeous hues of the true pheasants, or many of the closely-
allied birds. The general colour of the body is a sombre brown; the true tail
feathers are white, with dark tips; but the bird derives its remarkable appearance
from its large size and the peculiar character of the tail coverts, which spring
from the lower part of the back, and in great part obscure the true tail. These
tail coverts are white, and have the barbs separated, so that they form an elegant:
appendage to the body. The legs and feet of the eared pheasant are red in colour,
and of true scratching or rasorial type, the claws being bluntly curved, like those
of the common fowl. The head is very striking in its general appearance; the
vaulted beak is of a pale fleshy white, contrasting strongly with the red skin of
the face, which again is thrown into prominence by the white feathers that con-
stitute the so-called ears of the bird.

130 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

Consul Swinhoe states that, “This bird is found in the hills north of Pekin,
in Mantchuria, and brought in winter to Pekin in large numbers, both alive and
dead. It is called by the natives the Ho-ke. The feathers of this bird were
formerly worn by Tartar warriors. I have not seen the species in its wild state.”

Pére David informs us that these birds frequent the woods of high mountains,
and that they subsist much more upon: green vegetables, leaves of trees, and succu-
lent roots than upon grain. In their habits they are more gregarious than
the common pheasants, assembling together in flocks of considerable size. In
domestication they become exceedingly tame, feeding readily from the hand. When
at large they appear remarkably hardy; they breed when only one year old, and
acquire their adult plumage at the first autumnal moult.

They possess the very rare instinct of domestication. I have seen specimens
at’ Mr. Stone’s residence in the Welsh hills as familiar as barn-door fowls. In the
closely confined pens in our Zoological Gardens their increase has not been very
rapid, but they have proved themselves more hardy and prolific than common
turkeys would have been if placed under similar disadvantageous circumstances.
Mr. Bartlett writes: “Of the Crossoptilon we have reared nine fine birds the
second hatch, having lost by the gapes the first brood of seven.”

By placing a young brood in a large walled-in garden, where they could
obtain abundance of fresh vegetables and insect food, they should offer no more
difficulty in rearing than barn-door fowls; all they would require would be custard
and lettuce in addition to ants’ eggs, if obtainable; but fed on dry hard corn, and
kept in amall aviaries with brick floors, success is not to be expected.

Of the allied species, Hodgson’s Crossoptilon (C. thibetanum), is known
only by a single specimen in the British Museum. In this the general colour is
bluish-white, but the crown of the head is black, the wings dark, and the tail
black crossed with green and blue. It is a native of Thibet.

Under the name of C. drouynii, a species very closely allied if, indeed, it
be not identical with the last, has been described and named by M. Verraux. It
differs in the wings being bluish dark instead of dark brown, and in the tail being
smaller and less highly coloured. It is probably a local race.

The original eared pheasant described by Pallas was a slaty-blue species.
Pallas’s specimens have long been lost, but recently, owing to the indefatigable
exertions of Pére David, skins have been received at the Museum at Paris, and
the original C. auritum is now known to be perfectly distinct from the Mantchu-
rian species, with which alone we are familiar in the living state.

BRE FSB

THE MONAUL (Lophophorus impeyanus),

CHAPTER XIX.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY (CONTINUED).

ve — IMPEYANUS).

<= HE Monaul, or Impeyan Pheasant, is one of the most gorgeous
of the whole tribe, the wonderful metallic brilliance of its
plumage, “gleaming in purple and gold,’ never fails to attract
the attention of the spectator. In the Zoological Gardens it
has bred frequently, but a native of the Himdlas, seldom descending
ay far below the snow line, and suffering from the heat of summer,

| is not likely to succeed in a situation where the soil is pure London
clay. During the life of my friend, Mr. J. J. Stone, I saw at large on
the Welsh Hills Impeyan pheasants as tame as the other poultry, and
T have little doubt but that in suitable localities this magnificent bird
might be introduced to advantage.

Should it be thought desirable to try the experiment in any appropriate
locality, this can only be done by a consideration of their natural habits, and I have
therefore great pleasure in quoting the following from the late Col. Tickell, who
was well acquainted with the birds in their natural haunts :—

“The monaul ranges high in the mountains where it is found, keeping near
the line of snow; and although met with in the ridges next the plains, becomes
much more numerous farther in the mountains. It frequents the entire range of
the Himdla, from Afghanistan to Sikhim. Its range in elevation varies according to
season, but in the severest winter it does not appear to descend below 6000 feet
above sea level. I have seen numbers in Nepal in winter, brought with other kinds
of pheasants by the Botias for sale in the plains of India, where they soon perish
when the hot weather begins.

“They are forest birds, and difficult to be found in summer when vegetation
is profuse, unless by ascending to the highest limits of the forest, when shots may

8s 2

132 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

be obtained in the open downs above, and amongst the rocks and thin herbage near
the snow. In autumn, as the underwood decays, they descend and scatter through
the woods, sometimes in great numbers, and seek lower levels as the winter advances
and the soil becomes frozen. At such times they draw near to the small villages,
perched on the lower spurs and above the sheltered valleys, and seek their food in
the fields, where the mountaineers, with their large hoes, have dug up the soil. In
these seasonal migrations it has been remarked that the females and young birds
descend lowest and approach nearest to human habitations.

« They appear to be either capricious in their rambles through the woods, or
are actuated to particular spots at particular times for reasons not apparent. Some-
times the sportsman will put up in one part of the forest fifteen or twenty in the
space of four or five acres. In another portion he may keep on flushing for the
rest of the day single birds, feeding in solitude, far apart. At no time are they
gregarious, and whenever alarmed they rise and escape independently of each other.
In some parts only cock birds are found, in others only hens.

“Severity of cold and scarceness of food have their taming effect on the
monaul, as on other birds, and the lower the snow the easier the task of making
a bag. When on the wing, it generally flies a long way, and if much alarmed
crosses over to a parallel ridge. Occasionally, however, it will settle on the low limb
of a tree, at no great distance, and once there, it is, like many other gallinaceous
birds, easy of access.

“Sometimes when approached in open spots it walks off, or begins to run,
stopping often and eyeing the intruder, till suddenly, and without apparent immediate
cause, it will rise with a startling flapping or flutter of the wings, scattering the
dead leaves in a shower around, and fly headlong into the wood with a succession
of short, piercing, shrieking whistles, which appear to act as a warning to some
distant companions, for their calls are often heard in reply. When feeding quietly
and in security the monaul has a sweet, mellow call—a long plaintive note—which
it utters from time to time, especially of a morning and after sunset. It has the
same melancholy effect on the ear as the creaking whistle of the curlew winging
his way along the mudflats as evening settles over the lonely shore. The call has
a rather melancholy sound, or it may be that as the shades of a dreary winter’s
evening begin to close on the snow-covered hills around, the cold and cheerless
aspect of nature, with which it seems quite in unison, makes it appear so.

“The monaul breeds towards the end of spring. The courtship is carried on
in the chesnut and large timber forests before the birds ascend, during the summer
heats, towards the regions of perpetual snow. It is generally near the upper limits
of these forests, where the trees are dwarfed and sparingly scattered, that the hen
lays and incubates three to five eggs, in a depression on the ground. The eggs are
of a dull cream or pale buff colour, sprinkled with reddish brown. Like most

THE IMPEYAN PHEASANT. 133

; gallinaceous birds, the monaul may be said to be omnivorous. Those I have had in
confinement ate rice and grain readily, as well as insects, worms, maggots, flesh,
lizards, fish, eggs, &c. It is a diligent digger, and the slightly expanded tip of the
mandible acts like a hoe or shovel. I had several of these birds in an aviary at
Mullye, in Tirhoot. They were strong and vigorous as long as the cold weather
lasted, and soon became tame, and did not succumb to the atmosphere of the plains
till June, when the rains had set in. Unlike the smaller hill pheasants, they were
not pugnacious. If shipped off early in the cold weather from Calcutta, these birds
could easily enough be transported to England, where the temperature would suit
them, if there were any means of giving them shelter during the extreme severity
of winter, or of procuring for them in that season a proper substitute for the insect
food which never fails them on the lower elevations of the Himdla. If they could
become as thoroughly acclimated as the common pheasant, they would indeed be a
superb ornament to our parks and plantations, though perhaps no great acquisition
to the table. It is many years ago since I tasted the monaul, and, speaking from
memory, the flavour appeared to me much the same as that of peafowl, the breast
being tender and palatable in the young birds, but no part being fit for anything
but soup in old specimens. The monaul has bred in England, both in the Zoological
Gardens of London and in the possession of the Earl of Derby, where the female
is said to have laid on one occasion thirteen to fourteen eggs.”

In appropriate localities there should be little difficulty in rearing the young,
which should be amply supplied with custard and ants’ eggs, in preference to much
grain, and the fowl rearing them should be allowed as much freedom as possible,
in order that she may supply the young chicks with appropriate insect food.

The following is the description of the two sexes and young:—“The bill of
the male is dusky brown or horny; iris sombre brown; legs greenish lead colour;
naked orbits; small blue head; crest and throat green, and highly metallic; the
lanceolate feathers on the hind neck amethystine or bright purple, changing in
lights into cupreous green with a golden glance; middle of the back white; but
all the rest of the upper parts, including the upper tail coverts, rich blue, glancing
with green and purple, highly glossed, the purple predominating on the back and
rump, the green on the wing and tail coverts ; remiges, plain black; tail pale rust
colour; all under parts black, and without gloss. The female is entirely cinnamon
brown; the feathers shafted pale, and irregularly barred and marked sepia; primaries
blackish; chin and throat white. Entire length of the male, about 24 inches ;
wing, 11; tail, 73. The female is a little smaller. The young males are at first
like the female, but may be distinguished by the black spots on the chin and
throat. They assume the adult plumage gradually, and in irregular patches scattered
over the body.”

Sh 8K RIF FS

CHAPTER XX.

PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY (CONTINUED).

THE ARGUS PHEASANT (ARGUS
GIGANTEUS).

one of the an magnificent, and at ‘the same time, in the
living state, one of the least known, of the family of the
pheasants. Its native haunts are the forests of Malacca and
Siam, and it is also found in North-western Borneo. It is
so extremely shy in its habits that it is rarely, if ever, shot,
even by native hunters, who nevertheless manage to secure
numbers by snaring the birds. |

Mr. Wallace, in his most interesting work on the Malay
Archipelago, describes his journey into the heart of the Argus
country, and, writing of Mount Ophir, fifty miles eastward of Malacca, states :—

“The place where.we first encamped, at the foot of the mountain, being |
very gloomy, we chose another in a kind of swamp, near a stream overgrown
with zingiberaceous plants, in which a clearing was easily made. Here our men
built two little huts without sides, that would just shelter us from the rain, and
we lived in them for a week, shooting and insect-hunting, and roaming about the
forest at the foot of the mountain. This was the country of the great Argus
pheasant, and we continually heard its cry. .On asking the old Malay to try and
shoot one for me, he told me that, though he had been twenty years shooting birds
in these forests, he had never yet shot one, and had never seen one except after it
had been caught. The bird is so exceedingly shy and wary, and runs along the
ground in the densest parts of the forest so quickly, that it is impossible to get
near it; and its sober colours and rich eye-like spots, which are so ornamental
when seen in a museum, must harmonise well with the dead leaves among which
it dwells, and render it very inconspicuous. All the specimens sold in Malacca are
caught in snares, and my informant, though he had shot none, had snared plenty.”

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THE ARGUS PHEASANT. 135

The great peculiarity of the birds of this genus is that the secondary flight
feathers of the wings are excessively enlarged and lengthened, being in the males
double the length of the primaries, and covered on the outer webs with the singular
-ocellated spots from whence the bird derives its name. In the male, also, the two
central tail feathers are extremely elongated, and project in a very singular manner
beyond the others.

Until recently the Argus giganteus was the only known species in the genus ;
but another smaller Argus (4. grayi) is now known by specimens in the British
Museum; and the existence of one or two others is suspected from specimens of
feathers, differing from those of the known species.

The great Argus is over five feet in length, the tail being three feet eight
inches long. The prevailing colour of the plumage is ochreous red or brown,
unrelieved by any lively or brilliant shade. The tints are distributed with so much
harmony, and covered with such a profusion of small spots, or even points,
sometimes darker and sometimes lighter than the ground, that they produce the
most agreeable effect. Its long and broad secondary feathers are covered in their
entire length by a row of large eye-like spots, closely imitating half globes; the
colour of these, as that of the plumage, has, however, something resembling ancient
bronze. The primary feathers, with whitish external barbs, speckled with brown,
and with inner barbs of the colour of a fallow deer, dotted with white, have their
shafts of the most beautiful sky blue. The naked skin of the face and neck is
bright blue, and contrasts well with the bronze hue of the plumage. The female
neither exhibits the extraordinary development of the tail and wings nor the eye-like
spots of the male. Her plumage is darker, and the total length is only twenty-six
inches.

The two specimens (a male and female) figured in the engraving had been
living some few years in the Zoological Gardens in the Regent’s Park when the
first edition of this work was published, at which time only five specimens of

the Argus had been seen alive in Europe; since then it has been more frequently
imported, and a dozen adult specimens have been received in the Zoological Gardens,
and several young have been bred there. In addition to those in the Regent’s Park,
others have lived in the possession of the King of Italy, and in the Zoological
Gardens at Amsterdam. ;

The ornamentation of the secondary wing feathers in the male Argus is one
of the most wonderful in the whole animal kingdom; the ornamental marks are
usually termed ocelli or eyes, but they much more closely resemble ball and socket
ornaments. As these ocelli are not visible when the wing is closed, the mode in
which they were displayed has hitherto. rather been conjectured than described,
and even in recent works the bird has been portrayed displaying its plumage in
a perfectly unnatural manner.

136 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

Fortunately, however, the pair of Argus pheasants now in the Zoological
Gardens, Regent’s Park, has been closely watched for some days in succession by
Mr. T. W. Wood, and, having had several opportunities of seeing the male bird
display the magnificence of its plumage, he has made a drawing of the bird in.
the act. At my request he has kindly favoured me with the following particulars :

“Tt is with great pleasure that I comply with your request to give you a
description of the mode of display of the Argus. The male bird commences by
running about very briskly, bending his neck, and seeming to look at the female
‘out of the corner of his eye’; he is evidently at this time in a very playful
mood, he elevates his wings (while still closed), and shakes them. Suddenly, when
close to the female, he throws his wings forward, the primaries resting on the
ground, the secondaries extending upwards, and the tertials having their upper
surfaces pressed together. At this time slight rustling sounds are heard, which I
have no doubt are produced chiefly by the movements of the side feathers of the
tail, as they are alternately moved outwards and inwards; the large feathers of the
wings are also slightly waved, and moved at regular intervals downwards towards
the female. But the most remarkable circumstance is that the bird places his head
behind, or under one wing, so that in front there is nothing to intercept the view
of the observer of his plumage. With the head so placed, how is he to observe
his ‘ladye love,’ which, one would think, he must very strongly desire to do? My
idea was, that by lowering his head a little he could peep between his wings; but
Mr. A. D. Bartlett has told me that he has seen the head thrust through the wing
feathers, and Mr. E. Bartlett suspected this on finding some secondary feathers of
a specimen which he set up, disordered at their bases. I have drawn the head in
the position in which it has been placed when I have seen the bird display, and
not as described by Mr. Bartlett, although not for one moment doubting the
accuracy of such a keen observer, and I am sure I shall be excused for repre-
senting only what I have seen, especially as that is sufficiently curious. When I
have noticed the head it has been placed under the right wing; but I should not
think this is invariably the case. You are aware that I have previously called ‘
attention to the very artistic shading of the large round spots on the secondaries,
and my opinion that the bird during display would so place his wings, that all the
lights on these spots would be upwards or towards the source of light, and the
shades downwards, has been confirmed by: observation of the living bird.”

From my own observation I can fully confirm the statement of Mr. Wood,
namely, that the ocelli are so shaded as to represent the light coming from above
when the wings are expanded as the bird is displaying itself. In the frontispiece,
the ocelli of the secondary feathers nearest the tail have the light side nearest the
top of the feather, whereas on the first and second secondaries, those which are held
nearest the ground and most horizontally, the light is next the shaft of the feather.

THE ARGUS PHEASANT. 137

This appearance is even still more distinctly shown in a photograph of the expanded
wings mounted as an ornamental screen by Mr. Edwin Ward, which is now
before me.

The mode in which these ocelli have been produced has been the subject of
a very elaborate and ingenious disquisition by Mr. C. Darwin (‘“ Descent of Man,”
vol. ii., p. 141), to which I would refer those of my readers who desire to enter
more deeply into the subject; but the following remarks on the characteristics of
the feathers and their employment by the male are so graphic that I need make
no apology for quoting them (vol. ii, p. 91) :—

“The immensely-developed secondary wing feathers which are confined to the
male, are ornamented with a row of from twenty to-twenty-three ocelli, each above
an inch in diameter. The feathers are also elegantly marked with oblique dark
stripes and rows of spots, like those on the skin of a tiger and leopard combined.
The ocelli are so beautifully shaded, that they stand out like a ball lying loosely
within a socket. But when I looked at the specimen in the British Museum, which
is mounted with the wings expanded and trailing downwards, I was greatly disappointed,
for the ocelli appeared flat or even concave. Mr. Gould, however, soon made the
case clear to me, for he had made a drawing of a male whilst he was displaying
himself. At such times the long secondary feathers in both wings are vertically
erected and expanded, and these, together with the enormously elongated tail feathers,
make a grand semicircular upright fan. Now as soon as the wing feathers are held
in this position, and the light shines on them from above, the full effect of the
shading comes out, and each ocellus at once resembles the ornament called a ball
and socket. These feathers have been shown to several artists, and all have
expressed their admiration at the perfect shading.

“The primary wing feathers, which in most gallinaceous birds are uniformly
coloured, are in the Argus pheasant not less wonderful objects than the secondary
wing feathers. They are of a soft brown tint with numerous dark spots, each of
which consists of two or three black dots with a surrounding dark zone. But the
chief ornament is a space parallel to the dark-blue shaft, which in outline forms a
perfect second feather lying within the true feather. This inner part is coloured
of a lighter chesnut, and is thickly dotted with minute white points. I have shown
this feather to several persons, and many have admired it even more than the
ball-and-socket feathers, and have declared that it was more like a work of art
than of nature. Now these feathers are quite hidden on all ordinary occasions, but
are fully displayed when the long secondary feathers are erected, though in a
widely different manner; for they are expanded in front like two little fans or
shields, one on each side of the breast near the ground.

“The case of the male Argus pheasant is eminently interesting, because it
affords good evidence that the most refined beauty may serve as a charm for the

4

188° PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY.

female, and for no other purpose. We must conclude that this is the case, as the
primary wing feathers are never displayed, and the ball-and-socket ornaments are
not exhibited in full perfection, except when the male assumes the attitude of
courtship. The Argus pheasant does not possess brilliant colours, so that his success
in courtship appears to have depended on the great size of his plumes, and on the
elaboration of the most elegant patterns. Many will declare that it is utterly
incredible that a female bird should be able to appreciate fine shading and exquisite
patterns. It is, undoubtedly, a marvellous fact that she should possess this almost
human degree of taste, though perhaps she admires the general effect rather than
each separate detail. He who thinks that he can safely gauge the discrimination
' and taste of the lower animals, may deny that the female Argus pheasant can
appreciate such refined beauty; but he will then be compelled to admit that the
extraordinary attitudes assumed by the male during the act of courtship, by which
the wonderful beauty of his plumage is fully displayed, are purposeless; and this
is a conclusion which I for one will never admit.”

The illustration, by Mr. T. W. Wood, which forms the frontispiece to this
volume, speaks for itself; its accuracy of detail is remarkable, and I have much
pleasure in being accessory to the publication of the first correct delineation of the
display of the Argus pheasant that has been produced.

APPENDIX.

TRANSPORT OF PHEASANTS FROM ABROAD.

ANY PERSONS may be desirous of bringing or sending gallina-
ceous birds:to England, and I cannot therefore do better than
reprint the following instructions, which were drawn up for
the Zoological Society by Mr. P. L. Sclater and Mr Bartlett
for the benefit of those desirous of forwarding the various species

foe to England.
ee

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE TRANSPORT OF PHEASANTS
AND OTHER GALLINACEHOUS BIRDS.

1. For exportation, birds bred or reared in captivity should, if possible, be procured.
But if this cannot be done, the following rules should be attended to as regards wild-caught
birds :—

2. As soon as the birds are captured, the feathers of one wing and of the tail should be
cut off tolerably close to their bases. The birds should be placed in a room lighted only from
a skylight above, and having the floor sprinkled with gravel or sand, mixed with tufts of grass
and roots and a little earth. Among these the food should be thrown. A tame bird placed with
the wild ones is of great advantage, because this bird will induce the new captives to feed.
The birds should be kept in this way until they have become tame and are fit to be transferred
to the packing-cases.

3. The food should consist of grain and seeds of various kinds, berries, fruit, insects,
green food (such as cabbage, lettuce, &c.), bread or soaked biscuit, chopped meat, boiled
eggs, dc.

4, Travelling-cages are most conveniently made of an oblong shape, divided into compart-
ments about eighteen inches square, and not higher than just sufficient to allow the birds to
stand upright in them. They should be boarded all round, except in front, where strong wire
netting may be employed—although, if the birds are at all wild, wooden bars, close enough to
prevent the inmates from escaping between them, are preferable.

5, Every compartment should have the top on the inside padded with canvas, as, if this
is not done, the birds are very liable to injure their heads by jumping upwards.

6. A movable feeding-trough should be fixed along the front of each compartment ;
one-third of this should be lined with tin, pitch, or otherwise made to hold water ; the
remaining two-thirds will hold the food.

7. Coarse sand or gravel should be kept strewn on the bottom of the cages, and a supply
of this should be sent along with the birds, as it is necessary to them for the healthy digestion

of their food.
y 2

140 APPENDIX.

8. The front of the cage should have a piece of coarse canvas to let down as a blind to
keep the birds quiet; and, in order to give them air, round holes should be bored at the back
of the box in the upper part.

9. The box should be cleaned out when the birds are fed, through the opening in front
made by removing the feeding-trough, care being taken that this opening is not wide enough
to let the birds escape.

10. In order to supply the birds with green food during the voyage, a few small trays
{the same as are used to hold the sand or gravel) may be sown with seeds, such as rape, mustard,
or any quick-growing vegetable. - The green food thus produced should be cut for them from
time to time, and the sand and roots afterwards thrown into the cages.

The following plan of securing any recently-caught or very wild bird in such
a manner that it is unable to injure itself by dashing against the sides or top of
the cage, may be of much use in transporting wild birds; it is identical with that
used by falconers, and termed by them brailing :—

To secure each wing, two pieces of string or tape of equal length must be taken, and
two knots tied, as shown in the engraving, so as to form a central loop with loose ends.
This loop must be of a size proportionate to that of the wing of the bird to be secured.
When used the loop is passed over the fore part of the wing, and one set of loose ends are
brought up behind, between the wing and the body, and secured by being tied to the other
set, as shown in the right hand figure. If this is properly done, there will be no pressure

on any part of the wing, nor need a single feather be ruffled or deranged; nevertheless flight
is entirely prevented, as the bird has no power of expanding the wings. When properly brailed
the wildest bird may be placed on the ground, where it can run about freely but without the
least power of flight. This plan is one of great utility in the transport of very wild birds, as
they are quite unable to dash themselves against the roof or sides of the cage in which they
are inclosed.

I need hardly say that should a bird be confined a long time in this manner it would
be necessary to loosen the wings alternately, otherwise a stiff or contracted joint might ensue.
This would be obviated by allowing the bird the free use of each wing for a short period.

INDEX.

Acorns injurious in confinement......... page 53
Alarm puns: yin ace gaia mncaatei 4]
Amberst pheasant.............. cece ceee sense ees 121
Argus pheasant ...............c cee cece ee ee ees 134
Aviaries, pheasants adapted for ............... 113
Barnes, Mr. J., on feeding in coverts ...... 34:

Bartlett, Mr., on rearing young pheasants... 73
Bartlett, Mr., on Scemmerring’s Pheasant... 103
Bartlett, Mr., on the transport of pheasants 139

Baskets for transporting pheasants ......... 60
Bennett, Dr., on Reeves’s Pheasant ......... 108
Blindness in young pheasants.................. 86
Blyth, Mr. Ed., on call-note of Reeves’...... 110
Bohemian Pheasants. ...............0...ccseseeees 91
Bones, crushed, use of ...............cceceeeeeeee 54
Carbolic acid for gapes ............ceeceeee eens 85
‘Carreau, Mons., on the Amherst Pheasant... 122
Carr-Hllison, Mr., on formation of coverts... 25
Catarrh in pheasants 2.0.0.0... eeeeeeee ee 81
‘Cats destructive to pheasants .................. 49
Chinese pheasants ............ceeeeeeeseee sone es 94
Cobbold, Dr. Spencer, on gapes .............., 82
Cock pheasants sitting...........0..0 cee ll
Cocks, proportion to be left............. ee. 37
Common pheasant..............cceceeeeeee eee eae 89
‘Coops for young pheasants .................. 67—75
Cordeaux, Mr., on power of flight............ 16
‘Courtship, display of plumage during ...... 8
Coverts, formation of ..............cceeee eee ees 25
‘Coverts, pheasants adapted for ............... 89
‘Cramp in pheasants ................cccceeeeeeeees 81
‘Crook’s arrangements for pheasantries ...... 52
‘Cross-bred pheasants in coverts ............... 102
‘Cross-bred Amherst and Gold Pheasants ... 112
‘Crossoptilon mantchuricum oo... 0c eee 129
(CLOWANG? sau ssaridee nan ceate tatae steinsaee seed ale 8
‘Curd as food for young pheasants ...,........ 72
‘Custard’as food for young pheasants......... 72
Darwin, Captain, on mock pheasants........, 39

Darwin, Mr. C., on cross-bred Scommerring 106
Dawkins, Mr.W.B.,onintroduc.intoEngland 17

Digestive organs ..........5e:eseeeeeee neers page 9
Diseases of pheasants ...............e sees eeenees 81
Distribution throughout Hurope ............++ 23

53 55 Great Britain ...... 21
Domestication, pheasants not capable of ... 16

Douglas, Mr. J., rearing young pheasants... 74

Hared Pheasant ...........ccccccecceeee secrete eee 129
Egg eating by pheasants .................:0020 0 62
HOG tOSbePS) Gi iniessseiwac dance Mievaoes come ves 68
Eggs, when sold, usually stolen ....... nanan 65
Euplocamus nycthemerus and allied species... 126
Exportation of pheasants.....................5- 139
Feeding in coverts ............ccceeeee eee 32
Feeding troughs objectionable ............... 33
Fir blossoms poisonous to young............... 87
Firs, species best adapted for coverts ...... 26
Flight of pheasants ...........0.. cece ee eeee ee eee 5
Food of pheasants ..............ceceeecee eee ee eee 2
Food of pheasants during transport ......... 139
Foxes, driving them from vicinity of nests... 49
Gapes in pheasants ................000ee sisteiebeg 82
Golden Pheasant .............0. eee eee 118
Gould, Mr. J., on Phasianus seemmerringit... 106
Gould, Mr. J., on Phasianus torquatus ...... 96
Gould, Mr. J., on Phasianus versicolor ...... 99
Greece, distribution of pheasants in ......... 24

Harting, Mr., on pheasant in Middle Ages... 18
Harting, Mr., on rooks destroying eggs ... 46

Hatching in confinement ................0002e00 61
Hedgehogs destructive to eggs ...........6604 49
Heine, Mr., on habits of J. apanese Pheasant 99
Heine, Mr., on Scemmering’s Pheasant ...... 104
Hens, varieties best adapted for hatching... 66
Hewitt, Mr. Ed., on Golden Pheasants ...... 117

Introduction into Scotland, date of
Introduction into St. Helena

142 INDEX.

Japanese Pheasant ............0....00000s. page 98
Jerusalem artichokes for pheasants ......... 36
Jesse for tethering hens ................00800: 76

Kestrel occasionally destructive to young ... 47

Laying, date of ....0.0....ccc cece cee cceceeeeeee eens 11
Leno, Mr., on rooks destroying eggs......... 43
Leno, Mr., pheasantries at Dunstable ...... 51
Lettuce, use of ..........ccccccceccce eee ease eens 54
Lilford, Lord, on Reeves’s Pheasant ......... 111
Lort, Mr. W., on feeding in coverts ......... 34
Macgillivray, description of the common

PU Ae 5 kay «pola vin ese mets ple a aaese ae ade 8 89
Macgillivray on food of pheasant ............ 3
Male plumage, assumption of, by female ... 81
Mantchurian Pheasant ................cecccseeees 129 .
Marco Polo on Reeves’s Pheasant ............ 108
Mayes, Mr. T., on Reeves’s Pheasant ...... 111
Mock pheasants, to make.....................0e 39
Moorhen destructive to young pheasants ... 47
Naumann on the food of the pheasant ...... 2
INGSEINO™ a csets sist e siasltedie Male tee eae pteen seen ane 8
Nests in trees... ccc cence nee eenen 9
Net for catching pheasants in aviaries ...... 57
New Zealand, successful acclimatisationin... 28
Non-domesticity of common pheasant ...... 17
Oak spangles as food for pheasants ......... 4
Open pens for pheasants ......0........:ceeeeeee 55
Ophthalmia in young pheasants ............... 86
Pall Mall Gazette on pheasant rearing ...... 64
Partridges laying in pheasants’ nests......... 9
Pens for pheasants .............ccceceeee cesses 50
Perry, Com., on Scemmerring’s Pheasant... 104
Phasiamus colchicus .........cccccccee sees eeneeees 89
Phasianus decollatus ....... ivsiegl Slit ah Waetas 97
Phasianus Usignis.....ccccccccccceececeeescneenees 97
Phasianus Mongolicus .......scccecaceveneeeeenes 97
Phasianus Picts .o.cciccccccccceececnceseeneenes 113
Phastanus 1eevesttcvs sicesaniascncivsrncns conn sansa 108
Phasianus scmtillans....ccccccccscceeeee eee veneees 106
Phasianus shawtt 00.0... ccccccsc ec ecee eee ee eens 97
Phasianus seemmerringtt .........cecceeee eee eeee 103
Phasianus superbus 2... ....ccccccccee ese eee ees 109
Phasianas torquatus 0.0.0... 60ccc ccc scene eee es 94
Phasianus veneratus ........cccccecccceeseeenenees 108
Phasianus versicolor ........0ccccccse cs eeeeeeew ees 98
Phasianus wallichit 0.0. ...ccccccececeeeeceneeees 112

Pied pheasants ...........00cccceeeeeeee eee ee page 98
Pinioning young birds .............c0ccsc cee eeeee 106
Potatoes, boiled, use of..............ccccceeceneee 53
Preserves, management of pheasants in...... 25
Dearing Ih PreseL VER © yics esdin nada aye wrest 37
Rearing young pheasants..............c..0ccseee 71
Reeves’s Pheasant ..........csccseeeeeeeeeeeeees 108
Ring-necked Pheasant................cccceeeeeee 95
Rooks destructive to pheasants ............46. A3
Roup in pheasants ...,......ccccsceeeeeeeeeeeeee 81
Scent, suppression of, during nesting ...... 48
Sclater, Mr. P. L., on transport of pheasants 139
Sexes, due proportion required ............... 37
Shot, pheasants poisoned by eating ......... 88
Silver Pheasant.................ccsecseseeeeeeenees 126
Sinclaire, Mr., on Golden Pheasants ......... 115
Sitting hens, arrangement recommended ... 66
Slow-worms eaten by pheasants............... 5
Scemmerring’s Pheasant ................e0eeeees 103
St. Helena, pheasants in..............0..00. 23, 96
Stone, Mr. J., introd. of Reeves’s Pheasant 111
Swimming, examples of ............0.:ceeeeeeee 7

Swinhoe, Consul, on the Silver Pheasant... 126
Swinhoe, Consul, on the Hared Pheasant ... 130

Tameness, examples of................0.eeceeeees 14
Thaumalea amherstice ............ cece eee eeees 121
Thawumalea obscura... 6... ceeeeeeeceeeecee eens 114
Thawmaled picta ..........cccceee ve eeee nee ee ees 113 |
Thompson, Mr., on food of pheasant......... 3
Transport of pheasants, instructions for ... 139
Vegetable food, necessity for ...............448 54
Wallace, Mr., on the Argus Pheasant ...... 134
Water, catchpools for, in coverts ............ 35
Water, rearing young without ............... 77
Waterton, Mr., on non-domesticity of
Pheasatticrs cc ncsesucrcnens cane stone ccd sh sens 17
Waterton, Mr., on formation of coverts...... 29
Weight of common species .................0.6. 13
White pheasants 00.00.00... eeeeeee eens 92
Whyte, Col. J., rooks destroying eggs ...... 45
Windows broken by pheasants ............... 5
Wireworms eaten by pheasants ............... 4
Wood, Mr. T. W., display of Gold P. ...... 1138
Wood, Mr. T. W., display of Argus P....... 136

Wool, death of young pheasants caused by... 87

Yew poisonous to pheasants ................5. 87

Advertisements.

Ornithological Works Issued by the same Author.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRANES.

A MONOGRAPH BY THE LATE EDWARD BLYTH, C.M.ZS.

Greatly Enlarged, and Reprinted, with Numerous Illustrations, by
W. B. TEGETMEIER, F.Z8.

Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union; General Editor of the Willughby Society.

EXTRACT FROM THE PREFACE,

“The story of this volume is soon told. On the arrival for the first time in this country of a pair of the
beautiful white-naped cranes of Japan, they were drawn by Mr. T. W. Wood for The Field, when Mr. H. Blyth,
availing himself of the opportunity, published in the columns of that paper a monograph of all the then known
species of the Gruide. '

“These articles were soon exhausted. I thought of reproducing them in a literal reprint, and had proceeded
as far as the introduction, when Professor Newton forwarded to me a copy of his article ‘Crane,’ in the ‘ Encyclopedia
Britannica.’ In this he stated ‘an admirably succinct account of all the different species was communicated by the
late Mr. Blyth to The Field newspaper in 1873, which, it is much to be regretted, has not since been published
in a more accessible form.’ .

“This opinion confirmed me in my estimation of the worth ot the work, and I endeavoured to render it
of more value by the insertion of much matter that limited space had kept out of the original articles, and new
information that has appeared since Mr. Blyth’s death. Amongt these, I may instance the valuable contributions
of the late Col. Tickell on the Indian species; Mr. Wolley’s account of the nesting of the common species in
Lapland, justly characterised by Professor Newton as ‘one of the most pleasing contributions to Natural History
ever written ;’ Dr. Cullen’s account of the nesting of the Demoiselle in Bulgaria, Mr. A. O. Hume on the Asiatic
White Crane, Dr. Coues on the American species, Lieut.-Col. Prjevalsky’s account of a new species, Mr. Gurney’s
description of the Southern Crowned Crane, &c., &e. These additions being more than double the amount of the
original matter, I have no hesitation in placing my own name on the title-page. The added matter, whether in
large or small type, is indicated by being placed in square brackets [thus], so that Mr. Blyth’s original contributions

are easy of identification.”
PRICE TO SUBSCRIBERS, 10s. 6b.
Application to be made to Mr. Porter, 6, Tenterden-street, W.C.; or W. B. Tegetmeier, Finchley.

BODDAERT’S TABLE DES PLANCHES ENLUMINEEZ
D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE.

REPRINTED VERBATIM ET LITERATIM FROM THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1783.

“A reprint of Boddaert’s excessively rare work, ‘Table des Planches Enluminées,’ which ornithologists are
constantly requiring for reference, has been undertaken by Mr. Tegetmeier, F.Z.S. The reprint is a verbatim et
literatim copy of the original, every word, line, and page being reproduced in fac-simile, even to the typographical
errors of the old edition.”—The Ibis.

The reference to Boddaert’s work has hitherto necessitated a great waste of time, owing to the absence of
an Index, consequently each species had to be sought for amidst 1200 others. Mr. TEGETMEIER proposes to issue
the few remaining copies of his reprint, with a full Index of the Genera and Species. The cost of the work
complete will be, to subscribers, 6s. The Index alone may be obtained by the original subscribers at 1s. in wrapper.
Application may be made to Mr. Portzr, 6, Tenterden-street, W.C.; or, THE Eprror, Finchley.

REPRINT OF

MOORE’S COLUMBARIUM.

REPRINTED VERBATIM ET LITERATIM FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF 1735.
“WITH A NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR.

The “Columbarium” of Moore is the earliest English work giving a description of the different varieties
of the domestic pigeon. From the accuracy of its details it possesses considerable interest both to naturalists
and fanciers. By its aid the former may trace the alterations produced in varieties of the same species by the

most careful breeding, continued for 150 generations; and to fanciers it is known as the source from whence all
subsequent works have taken their rise.

PRICH TWO SHILIINGS AND SIXPENCE.

HORACE COX, “ FIELD” OFFICH, 346, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.

Advertisements. :

PHEASANT REARING.

SAMPLES AND FULL PARTICULARS POST FREE.

It has now been proved beyond doubt that the use of highly stimulating foods in rearing
young pheasants is injurious in the highest degree; that, though it causes for a short time rapid
and unnatural growth, progress cannot afterwards be sustained; and when such premature forcing
has been resorted to, the great number of small, ill-grown, and weakly birds to be met with,
when shooting time comes round, in preserves, is the direct consequence of this high-pressure
overwork of the digestive organs. Like dram-drinking, it just gives a spurt for the time, at the
expense of solid, strong, gradual gain of tissue and flesh. :

Where is the gamekeeper who has not been heard to say, “Why, those birds were the
most forward I ever saw?” but gradually they seemed to decline and dwindle down, some dying,
others pining, and scarcely having sufficient life in them to make their escape on the approach
of vermin, much less to rise and go off like a rocket on the approach of the beater. Every
kind of hot and pungent condimented food is mistaken and wrong in principle; birds do not
for health require it, and the nearer you come to natural food the greater will be your success
in rearing young pheasants. Now, what are the natural foods? Surely grain of various sorts,
seeds, bulbs, and insects, with a flux of roughish grit for the crop, and certain forms of lime,
such as are contained in shells and bones when crushed. :

Some years have now elapsed since we introduced our Meal and Crissel. Every year sees.
a rapidly increasing sale, which warrants us in saying that there is no other food for rearing and
feeding pheasants that can for one moment compare with it; for, although it is not a sharply
stimulating food, it does, from being thoroughly cooked, nourish, satisfy, and digest more easily
than any other food, producing no ill effects on the stomachs of the young birds, thereby rendering
them more able to withstand the cold weather of the spring, and encouraging the steady, strong,
and healthy growth so much to be desired.

Pheasants, or any other kind of game or poultry, can be reared from the shell on our
Meal and Crissel; no other food need be used, the Crissel taking the place of insect life, giving
all the warmth that is necessary.

Gamekeepers are solicited to bring up one brood on them this year, and compare it with
any other. We have no fear of the result, but are confident of them as customers next year,
as we speak from practical experience extending over several years. A sample packet of both
the Meal and Crissel will be sent by post on application.

Chopped eggs may be used a day or two, but we do not recommend them. If given,
they can be mixed with the Pheasant Meal. It should always be borne in mind that hard-
boiled eggs are perhaps the most indigestible things known. They kill more young pheasants
every year than any one, except those who have practically reared pheasants, has any idea of.
We have tried them, and know that they produce the effect we describe.

Now is the time to give our Meal and “CRISSEL” to the Aviary Birds to ensure a
large and fertile stock of eggs. :

Both the Meal and the Crissel must be kept in a dry place.

Address: “SPRATTS PATENT,” Bermondsey, London, 8.E.

Advertisements.
PHEASANTS! PHEASANTS ! PHEASANTS !

CHAMBERLIN’S
PHEASANTS — FOOD.

ESTABLISHED MORE THAN 30 YEARS.

AROMATIC SPANISH MEAL,
CAYCAR EXCELSIOR,

DOUBLE-SUPER MEAT GREAVES,

OBTAINED THE ONLY AWARD FOR GAME FOOD.

PARIS INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1878; BRONZE MEDAL AND DIPLOMA, MANNHEIM, 1880.

Supplies constantly forwarded to Her Majesty’s Royal Parks; H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, at
Sandringham ; 4 Monsieur le President de la Republique Francaise; and to all the
Noblemen and Landed Proprietors in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland,
Belgium, Sweden, &c.

Tue great and increasing yearly demand for the AROMATIC SPANISH MEAL AND CAYCAR
EXCELSIOR is the best proof that the use of these celebrated foods is not only highly beneficial, but
absolutely necessary to the successful rearing of young Pheasants and Game. The Aromatic Spanish Meal
contains, amongst other ingredients, a quantity of dried meat (this is cooked, when boiling water is used in
the preparation), which makes the birds hardy, vigorous, and strong on the wing. It contains carefully
calculated proportions of enticing and stimulating, spices, which not only causes the young birds to eat it
with avidity, but preserves them in good health, and enables them to repel the inclemency of our climate.
The fact is that in this country while wild Pheasants invariably are decimated by disease, birds are reared
by gamekeepers upon this food with scarcely a loss of one per cent. The thousands of testimonials which
have been received during the past few weeks from landowners and gamekeepers in all parts of the United
Kingdom, France, Sweden, and other countries, attesting the value of this food, particularly during wet and
unfavourable seasons, clearly shows the risk gamekeepers run in not using this Prepared Food, and the
great success attending those who have used it, even in cold and exposed situations. By using the Aromatic
Spanish Meal for Pheasants penned for laying, extraordinary results are obtained, nearly double the number
of strong healthy birds are hatched. Beware of spurious imitations. Every package sent out by me bears

my Trade Mark.

PRICES :
AROMATIC SPANISH MEAL _... be i .. 8Os, per cwt. nett.
D.-S, GREAVES (Selected)... Ae ae Ree see BOS: is 4
CAYCAR EXCELSIOR... _ ... a ee .. 14s. per doz. Packets.
THSTIMONTALS.
Mr. James CHAMBERLIN. Sandringham, Norfolk.
Srr,—I again bear my testimony to the fine quality of your Foods for young Pheasants. Your Spanish Meal is
excellent. I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
CHAS. H. JACKSON, Head Keeper to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, K.G.
Mr. James CHAMBERLIN, Bendrigg, Old Hutton, Milnthorpe, February 7th, 1881.

Sir,—I beg to say that I never had better luck in my life with my young Pheasants, having reared nearly 1700 birds.
T also used your Spanish Meal and D.-S. Greaves for my penned birds, and found it answer, as usual, first-rate. I expect to rear,.
this coming season, more birds than last, consequently shall require more of your foods than I generally have had, and will forward
you an order in a few days. I remain, Sir, yours faithfully,
JOHN HARROD, Head Keeper to the Harl of Bective, M.P.

SOLE PROPRIETOR AND MAKER,

JAMES CHAMBERLIN, NORWICH.
1]

Advertisements.

R EYNOLDS’S | THE NEW PATENT TRAP.

Fig.

SS

SA
WSs.
SSS

(59)
KT}

& as
£ Oe

The Quality of which was much admired at the Pras oh iD
Smithfield Club Cattle Show. i Kor ;

PRICES ARE NOW VERY LOW.
For Poultry, 2 in. mesh, 24in. wide, 3d. per yard.

» Game, gin ,, 24in, 4, Sid. ,, TAKES UNINJURED
» Sheep, 4in. ,, 36m. , 53d. 5

We are now allowing 20 per cent. discount off BOTH GROUND AND WINGED GAME,

Rolls of Fifty Yards, and Deliver Free Two Rolls WOODPIGEONS,

within -200 miles. LL OTHER BIRDS
Also 5 per cent. Discount for Cash with Order. AND A ;
Price Lists of various other meshes and qualities

post free. FOR PARTICULARS APPLY TO THE INVENTOR,

REYNOLDS & ©O., R. J. SANKEY,
57, NEW COMPTON STREET, LONDON, w.c. | DENT-DE-LION, MARGATE.
BOULTON AND PAUL, MANUFACTURERS, NORWICH.

CXKIOOP ONT
Seen Mao

s0r%6.
SOK]
oy]

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50

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Ro%e

lees CEREUS 8

bia eee Ssaprenatet SCesaretes
Ae ee wa PEER RRS
ae

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ROHS
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ATE
es aK $

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————

NEW IMPROVED PHPASANTRY.

THIS is an elegant structure, eminently fitted for the purpose (being made in various sizes) of accommodating either a trio of Golden Pheasants, Silver
Pheasants, or a family of Common Pheasants, consisting of from four to seven hens and a cock.

It is manufactured in separate frames so that anyone can erect it, or readily shift it when necessary to fresh ground. Besides affording an

_ opportunity for studying the habits of one of the most interesting and beautiful class of birds in existence, it constitutes an ¢
its occupants, must be regarded as a desirable acquisition by every nobleman and gentleman in the country.
This form of Aviary can also be supplied in miniature for tropical birds, to stand in a conservatory.

it, Which, together with

TESTIMONIALS.

From BOSWELL G. JALLAND, Esq., Eastfield House, Sutton, Hull.
GenTLemEN,—The Pheasantry supplied by you was erected on my lawn yesterdsy. It has a very pretty appearance and gives great satisfactions it

appears to me to be very atrong, and is constructed on the best principle of any Pheasantry { have seen; a great point in its favour being the ease with which it
can be taken to pieces, removed, and re-erected.

POULTRY HOUSES, POULTRY FENCING, PIGEON HOUSES, DOG HOUSES AND YARDS, KENNEL RAILING, AVIARIES, &c., made to suit any situation.
SPECIAL DESIGNS GIVEN FOR ORNAMENTAL PHEASANTRIES, AVIARIES, &c. ARCHITEOTS' DESIGNS CARRIED OUT.
Premises inspected and gentlemen waited upon in any part of the Kingdom. : New Illustrated Catalogue free by post.
Specifications and Estimates on application. It will save correspondence if plan with dimensions of ground to be covered is sent with inquiries.

Advertisements.

BARNARD, BISHOP, & BARNARDS.

NORFOLK IRONWORKS, NORWICH,

AND 91, 93, AND 95, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, E.C.

INVENTORS AND ORIGINAL MANUFACTURERS OF MACHINE-MADE GALVANISED
WIRE NETTING. GALVANISED AFTER MADE.

© Ze 5;
SSS “Paris, 1878.

SAMPLES AND PRICES FREE ON APPLICATION,

BARNARD, BISHOP, & BARNARDS’
IMPROVED PHEASANT COOP AND RUN.

Ze

alll)

i

tee

ul

No. 940. No. 940.

|
I

This article is intended for the better preservation of Young Pheasants, reared under hens, preventing their
straying when first hatched. It consists of a wooden coop, the sides, back, and ends of which are hinged, and will fold
flat. The run is formed of strong galvanized iron frames, 6ft. by 3ft. long, covered with corrugated wire lattice, this also
folds flat, and both are extremely portable, and can be stowed away in a very small compass when not in use.

PRICE... a a ae as LDS. dL

IMPROVED DOUBLE AND SINGLE (Registered) PHEASANT FEEDER.

(NEW ARTICIE.)

FULL PARTICULARS AND PRICES
UPON APPLICATION

‘0'9 ‘LAIULS VIMOLOIA NIINO
G6 9 ‘86 ‘16 ‘SWOOY MOHS NOQNOT uno
LV NI4S 34 NVO SATOILYY JSIHL 40 SATdWVS

Advertisements.

ARE the Sole Manufacturers and Patentees of the NEWCASTLE CHILLED SHOT,
which is composed of lead only, and free from any poison.
It is found necessary to call the attention of the public to the Trade Mark, from
Ps. \ existing proofs that there are certain unscrupulous dealers who give their customers cold
SI m= blast shot for chilled shot. The following is one of the many letters received from all
CHILLED SHOT parts with regard to this:
6 Lorn Ironmongery Warehouse, Oban, July 21, 1880.

Gentlemen,—Several of my customers prefer your make of shot, and I have found a little
difficulty in getting it; as I am informed that what is known as “cold blast” is the same as

Co wt your “cHILLED” shot; however, the parties referred to say that they have tried both, and that
M Pp A your chilled shot does shoot much further than the other. Please let me know your terms, and
LIMITED where is your nearest agent.—Yours obediently, JoHN Munro.
At all the important field trials of later years the Newcastle Chilled Shot was exclusively selected by each
successful competitor. (Wholesale only.)

Address: GATESHEAD-ON-TYNE.

Demy 8vo., with folding plates and full-page illustrations, printed on toned paper, price 21s., by post 21s. 9d,

MODERN WILDFOWLING.

By DHEwWIS CLAMEN T.

“WILDFOWLER” OF “THE FIELD.”

CONTENTS:

Puntiné.—Introduction, CHAP. XXXII.—Sailing to Fowl.
Cuap. I. To I1I.—Muzzle-loading Punt (suns (Flint, Percussion, and Copper CuaP. XXXIII. anp XXXIV.—Decoying to the Gun.

Tube Ignition), CuHaP. XXXV.—Decoying in America,
Cuaps. IV. to V{.—Breech-loading Punt Guns. CHAP, XXXVI.~American Blinds.
Cuap. VIT.—Loading Punt Guns. . CHAP. XXXVII.—American Canvas-back Shooting.
CHAP, VIII.—Aiming and Firing Punt Guns. CHAP. XXX VIII.—Shore Shooting.
Cuap. X.—The Setting of Punt Guus. CHAP, XXXIX.—Flighting.
Cuap. XI.—Recoil and After-recoil Apparatuses, CHAP, XL. AND XLI.— Curious Wildfowl and Sea-fowl Shooting Ex
Cuap. XII. TO XVII.—Punts. pedients. i ;
‘CHAP, XVIII.—Launching Punts and Canoes. Cuap, XLII.—Close Time and Wildfowl and Sea-fowl Acts,
‘CuaP. XIX.—Punting Accessories. OuaPp. XLITI.—* Wildfowler’s” Table of Loads.
CuHap, XX. TO XXIII.—Punting. Cuap, XLIV.—Netting Plovers and Snipe Snaring.
CHAP. XXIV.—My First Single-handed Punting Trip. CHap. XLV.—Snaring and Hooking Sea-fowl on the Continent,
CuaPp. XXV. AND XXVI.—Amateur and Professional Puntsmen. “CHap. XLVI.—Decoying into the “ Pipes.”
CHAP. XXVII. To XX1X.—Shoulder Guns. OuaPp. XLVIL—Flight Ponds and Rock Fowling.
CHAP, XXX.—Flapper Shooting. CuaP. XLVIII.—Concluding Remarks.
CHAP, XXXI.—Inland Duck Shooting.

* AMONG THE ILLUSTRATIONS WILL BE FOUND THE FOLLOWING:

“* Wildfowler"’ and Puntsman Sailing in his Double-handed Punt to Several Plans of Modern Punts.

Brent Geese. “ Wildfowler's ” Safety Handle for Shoulder Guns.
Plan and Side View of ‘‘ Wildfowler’s * Double-handed Punt. “ Wildfowler’s"’ Mud Pattens.
Old-fashioned and Modern Punt Guns: Muzzle-loading and Breech- Duck Shooting in Abbeville Marshes.

loading. Duck Shooting from a Dinghy under Sail.
Modern Recoil Apparatuses. Decoying Hut and Decoys (Wooden).
Punting in Olden Time. Double-handed Artificial Stalking Horse.
Sledge Wildfowling in Olden Times. &e., &e., &e.

Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tue Frenp”’ Orricr, 346, Srranp, W.C.

Now ready, price 1s., the Third Edition of

THE GROUND GAME ACT, 1880,

With Explanatory Notes, indicating the various periods at which the law comes into. force under different conditions, its effect on
existing contracts between owners and occupiers of land, and the lessees of sporting rights, the limitations placed upon the
killing and selling of ground game, and other matters included in the Act.
“ Will be a great convenience to magistrates, and to all persons affected by the Act.”—Saturday Review.
Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tue Frew” Orrice, 346, SrRanp, W.C.

Now ready, price 1s.,

THE WILD BIRDS’ PROTECTION ACT, 1880,

‘With comments on the respective Sections, explanatory of their bearing as regards Owners and Occupiers of Land, Sportsmen,
Bird Catchers, Bird Dealers, &c. ; together with Notes on the Birds named in the Schedule, their provincial names, &c:
“An accurate exposition of and commentary on the recent measure, and will dispel many misconceptions of its scope.”—Quarterly Review.
“A capital annotated edition of the Act."—Saturday Review,

Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tue Fimip” Orrice, 346, StRanD, W.C.

Advertisements.

THIRD EDITION.

Now ready, 4to., bevelled boards, gilt edges, with fifty full page illustrations, price 15s., by post 16s.,

DOGS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS:

BEING

A SERIES OF ARTICLES

ON THE

POINTS OF THEIR VARIOUS BREEDS,

AND

THE TREATMENT OF THE DISEASES TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECT.

By J. H. WALSH (“Stonehenge,” Editor of “The Field”).

With the Aid of several Eixperienced ‘Breeders.

Part I. General Management. Part II. Sporting Dogs. Part III. Non-Sporting Dogs.

Lonpon : HORACE COX, ‘Tse Freyp Orricz,” 346, Stranp, W.C.

Demy 4Ato., with 12 full-page illustrations, some of which contain Portraits of Sporting Celebrities, and 24 vignettes, Price 11. 1s.

SPORTING SKETCHES WITH PEN AND PENCIL.

By FRANCIS FRANCIS and A. W. COOPER.

Contents :—The First of September—A Day in » Punt—Mark Cock!—Trouting—Long Tails and Short Ones—Paying the Pike—
Rabbit Shooting—Roaching—Grouse Shooting—Salmon Fishing—Snipe Shooting—Grayling Fishing.

Lonpon: HORACE COX, ‘‘ Tue Fretp” Orrice, 346, Stranp, W.C.

In the Press, Ready Shortly.

PUBLIC SHOOTING QUARTERS,

AT HOME AND ON THE CONTINENT
By “ WILDFOWLER” (of “The Field.”)
Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tae Fmip” OFFICE, 346, STRAND, W.C.

Now Ready, Price 6d., the Second Edition of

“WILDFOWLER’S” TABLES OF LOADS,

FOR SHOULDER GUNS OF ALL SIZES (CYLINDER AND CHOKE-BORB),
AND FOR PUNT GUNS.

Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tsar Frmip” Orvice, 346, STRAND, W.C.

Published Annually, Price Eighteenpence.

THE ANGLER'S DIARY AND TOURIST FISHERMAN’S GAZETTEER

OF THE

RIVERS AND LAKES OF THE WORLD.
By Il. E&. B.C.
Lonpon: HORACE COX, “THe Frenp ” Orriczr, 346, STRAND, W.C.

Advertisements.

Price £3 8s:, in Imperial folio.

LACH Das ilaN iw Ga.
By DIXON KEMP.

Associate INSTITUTE NAVAL ARCHITECTS. :

pe WORK has been compiled to give information upon the practical application of the scientific
principles upon which the art of Yacht Designing is based. A complete system of construction is provided for the
guidance of the inexperienced, together with all necessary information relative to the primary subjects of buoyancy, stability,
resistance, and speed.

The text is amply illustrated by diagrams, and a very valuable collection of plates of the lines of about thirty celebrated
racing yachts of the period, including such small craft as 10-tonners, 5-tonners, sailing boats, boats for rowing and sailing,
and sailing canoes. Some of these plates are nearly 4ft. in length, and all are on scales adapted for working drawings.

. Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tue Fretp” Orricz, 346, Stranp, W.C.

Now ready, the Suconp Epirion, greatly Enlarged, price £1 5s.

A MANUAL OF YACHT AND BOAT SAILING.

By DIXON KEMP, A.I.N.A.

Author of “ Yacht Designing.”

HIS WORK contains exhaustive information upon the subjects of Yacht and Boat Sailing and
Boat Building, and is profusely Illustrated. Full instruction is given as to the Building and Management of every
Boat described. Super-royal 8vo., with full-page Drawings.
Lonpon : HORACE COX, ‘‘ Tue Fieup” Orricr, 346, Srranp, W.C.

Price 18s., in imperial 4to, bevelled boards, gilt edges, with eighteen full-page engravings by Harrison Werr, toned paper,
illustrating each Breed of Cattle.

THE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN:

THEIR HISTORY, MANAGEMENT, &e.
Edited by J. COLEMAN.

PART I,—Breeding and General Management; Principles of Feeding—Nature and’ Value of Different Kinds of Food ;
Buildings, and the Manufacture of Manure; Dairy Management, the Milk Trade, &e.

PART II.—THE BREEDS OF CATTLE :—Shorthorns, by J. Thornton; Herefords, by T. Duckham; Devons, by Capt. -
Tanner Davey; Longhorns, by Gilbert Murray; Sussex Cattle, by A. Heasman; Norfolk and Snuffolk- Red
Polled Cattle, by T. Fulcher; Polled Galloways, by Gilbert Murray: Polled Angus or Aberdeenshire; The
Ayrshire Breed, by Gilbert Murray ; West Highland Cattle, by John Robertson; The Glamorgan, Pem-
brokeshire or Castlemartin, and Anglesea Breeds, by Morgan Evans; The Kerry Breed, by R. O. Pringle;
The Alderney, Guernsey, and Breton Breeds, ‘by J. C. W. Douglas and others.

Lonpon: HORACE COX, “ Tue Fientp’’ Orricz, 346, Stranp, W.C.

Now ready, quarto, price 5s.,

THE GAMEKEEPER’S AND GAME PRESERVER’S

ACCOUNT BOOK AND DIARY.

By I. E. B. ©.
ITS SECTIONS COMPRISE:

Tur SHOOTING AND ITS GUARDIANS. Doe Diary (Continued)— .
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT. a -. Produce Register—Bitches.
REcEIPTS AND PAYMENTS. 6 ¥ ey Register.
Vermin DiaRry— ss ; edigrees.
me General Summary. Ss is : peer ane Expenses.
PouLTRy Diary— ener: alance Sheet.
5 » Receipts and Payments. Gaun Duke
,5 _ General Balance Sheet. a » Total Summary of the Season.
Paeassnr DisRy— - 3 Produce of the Beats or Coverts.
” », Receipts and Expenses 3 » Tenants, &c., to whom game should be given.
Doa''D », General Balance Sheet. om » Inventory of * Appliances, &e.
og DiaRy—
A » Kennel Names, Ages, ‘Value, &e. Stock VALUATION.
Kennel Occupants at the beginning of GENERAL BALANCE SHEET FOR THE YEAR.

“ 6s each Quarter of the Year. .

Lonpon: HORACE COX, “Tux Fretp”’ Orrice, 346, Srranp, W.C.

Advertisements.

ze |
ENT

IG

‘OUN'

TANS ANEWSP!

No.) SATURDAY. [Price 6d
LEADER! “ROWING.” “THE GARDEN.”
0) Bt Sporting are Ts Reports of Matches, Articles on eRe GELS ractical instruction for
given every areek in THE FIELD. Training, and Letters from men well laying out and managing Flower and
“SHOOTING.” versed in the subject, are given every week. |. Kitchen Gardens, Grape Houses,

ONTENTS: Original Articles and Cor-
dence on Shooting Adventures,
Game ¥ eservation, New and Old Shooting
Grounds, New Guns, Cartridges, and
the paraphernalia of a sportsman.

“ANGLING.”
AP SuES and Correspondence on
Fi Reports from the Rivers,
Oyster and” ‘Salmon Culture, and every-
thing connected with river, lake, or sea
fishing are given,

a YACHTING.”

“THE VETERINARIAN”
Gre full and practical instruction for
the a mianaemisnt of Cattle in health

Ne a oe
EPORTS of all Meetings are given
weekly for the duration of the season.

“CROQUET”
E thoroughly discussed, and the prosand
ipa of disputed points are carefully
weighed.

Repos of
Cruises, Coueeeoncsricae &e., will ha
found here in the season.

“FOOTBALL ”

THE FARM”
Grvzs practiod advice for the proper
management of Farms (both arable
and pasture) and Farm Stock.

a aa RORERY: ag
LL the cipal Matches of the week
throug! ino ie United Kingdom are
reported during the.seuson.

Dogs AND HORSES.”
ABrtCEeS and Correspondence on the
above subjects appear constantly from
the pens of well-known authors.

8
T authorities,

“ATHLETIC SPORTS”
AC? fully reported every week during
the season.

ee Tey eee AND PIGEONS”
APE ted, and Reports are
Biren e & ail st Shows.

“NOTES AND QUESTIONS,”
wre thelr Answers, on every subject
esting to Country Gentlemen,
wil 2 fvand in their respective depart-

“ HUNTING.”
Poe and pak pee of the Runs,

ch the various Packs of Hounds,
Hunting Appointments, Visits to the
Kennels, Notes from the Shires, é&c.,. are
given during the season.

“HUNTING APPOINTMENTS.”
N Alphabetical List of the Appoint-
aients for the ensuing week are given
during the season.

“THE NATURALIST”
Gores Observations, Articles, and
C from of

note,

ad aed couniEy HOUSE.”

“CRICKET.”
pe and accurate Reports of all
Matches of interest are given during
the season.

“THE TURF.”
EPORTS of all Race Meetings, except
those of only local interest, are always
en.

A CHESS PROBLEM
i given constantly.

“TRAVEL”
(ou S graphic and trustworthy
Articles upon Explorations in new or

“THE LIBRARY TABLE”
(CONTAINS Reviews of pt Books on §;

unting, Cards,

in fact all those that treat of subjects

hee come within the scheme of THE
ELD.

“SKATING.”
RTICLES and Di: ms on the above
are given during the season.

“FOREIGN FIELD SPORTS.”
A BtrcuRs, descriptive of Sport in all
rts of the world.

“

ARDS.”
IST Hands illustrated by “ Caven-
dish,” with Notes on other Games.

“ RACQUETS.”
[a= University and other great Matches
of the season are given,

“ BILLIARDS.”
UV University and other great Matches
of the season are given.

“STEEPLECHASING.” *
A™ Steeplechases of general interest
are fully reported.

“THE MARKETS.”
Yr this department will be found the
Current Prices of Farm Produce,
cluding Hay, Straw, Manure, Cattle, aoe
Poultry, Butter, Fruit, Vegetables, &c.

SPECIMEN COPY
Fo six postage stamps.

REGISTERED
Eo transmission abroad.

POST-OFFICE ORDERS
HOULD be drawn on the Somerset
House Order Office, payable to Horace
Cox, 346, Strand, London.

this heading will be found | little known parts of the world, with
watches, Notes, Guerin &c., on all | accounts of their flora, fans, and geo- SUBSCRIPTIONS
In nthe | logical formation, &c., and the manners Mw" be paid in advance.
Gurects House, and customs of the natives,
EVERY SATURDAY OFFICE: SUBSCRIPTION:
price 6d.; Stamped 64d. 3 AG STRAND, LONDON, W.C. Qo 7s.; Half-yearly, 148.3
2D: i Z

FORM OF ORDER.

To Mr. Horacr Cox, 346, Strand, London, W.O.

Please send me Tue Frew, commencing with last Saturday’s nwmber, and continue
sending it until countermanded. I enclose £ a :

Subscription in advance.

Date

——~

Name

for

Address

Advertisements.

CARSON'S PAIN'T.

PATRONISED BY
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN,

H.R.H. THE Bye H.R.H. THE
PRINCE OF WALES, 23 DUKE OF EDINBURGH,

AND 15,000 OF THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY,
FOR ‘EVERY DESCRIPTION OF

ae WORK.

TRADE MARK,

IRON,
BRICK,
WoOoDb, ENTERED AT SEATIONERS HAL, |

ANY PERSON CAN LAY IT ON.

ONE CWT. AND OIL MIXTURE, CARRIAGE FREE.

PRICES, TESTIMONIALS, AND PATTERN CARDS POST FREE.
PREPARED OIL MIXTURE FOR THE ANTI-CORROSION.

THE ORIGINAL ANTI-CORROSION PAINT CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED OF

WALTER CARSON & SONS,
LA BELLE SAUVAGE YARD, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, EC,

AND
21, BACHELOR’S WALK, DUBLIN.

Discount for Cash.

STONE,
| AND
COMPO.

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