as bee o' Pie eaearar he eet chia aer fs FO Gi or regtreah ‘ say Po nye erica etre! fa re’ beet ah fe igs Werte Ae Ms sei Tacanae inh et Mitt * ke a Rdg nent ae ee eR eer We ea kd caw te yaar wince pene Palais Cg Riri. premiere Ve , ar hannah mn * whe mee nh inet rececint neice pre POR Att ce 1 orn atime Pett ae .e . wr oo By a an cae ana Ve Geen yy giaueyce seme an pa eats CORNELL LAB of ORNITHOLOGY LIBRARY at Sapsucker Woods pe ae Illustration of Bank Swallow by Louis Agassiz Fuertes Tint DATE DUE Cornell University Library 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/cu31924022520765 PHEASANTS THEIR | Patural Wistoyy and Practical fMaragentent. BY W. B. TEGETMEIER (Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union), AUTHOR OF “THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CRANES,” ‘' TABLE AND MARKET POULTRY,” “‘HORSES, MULES, AND MULE BREEDING,” Erc., Etc. FOURTH EDITION, ENLARGED. ILLUSTRATED FROM LIFE BY J. G. MILLAIS, T. W. WOOD,. P. SMIT, AND F. W. FROHAWK. Lonpon : HORACE COX, “THE FIELD” OFFICE, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, E.C. 1904, (All rights reserved.) OS. SFr SOF - 3, Narow wR 333539 LONDON : PBINTED BY HORACE COX, ‘‘'THE FIELD” OFFICE, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, E.¢. PREFACH. 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 hitherto been attempted. The extremely favour- able reception which the previous editions met with, not only from 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 highest authorities have 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. In the following work I have given the natural history and general practical management, not only of the pheasants strictly adapted for the covert, but also of the allied species, which are the best adapted to our aviaries. The progress of scientific exploration is continually bringing to light species of pheasants hitherto unknown ; av PREFACE. some of these are well suited to our coverts, whilst others are regarded as ornamental birds. A few years since the only pheasant breeding wild in England was the common species (Phasianus colchicus); our coverts now possess the Chinese (P. torquatus), the Mongolian (P. mongolicus), the Japanese (P. versicolor), and the Prince of Wales’s (P. princi- palis) species ; whilst the Reeves’s pheasant (P. reevestt), well adapted both for sporting and culinary purposes, has been bred in the forests of Scotland. In the same manner, our aviaries have recently been enriched by the addition of the Amherst pheasant (Lhawmalea amherstix) and 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 inclosed pheasantries, to enter into the numerous details respecting their food, management, protection, rearing, diseases, &c., is the object at which I have aimed in the preparation of this work. In the following chapters I first treat of the natural history of the pheasants generally—their food, habits, nesting, &c. Then follows 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 is 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. PREFACE. v A detailed description of all the different species adapted for turning out, and of the various hybrids and crosses between them, is then given; and the work concludes with accounts of the 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. TEGETMETER. Norra Fincutey, N. TO SIR WALTER GILBEY, BarrT., THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, WITH SINCERE RESPECT AND ESTEEM, BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS. Cuaprer I. Habits, Food, Structure, &c. Cuaprer II. Introduction, Distribution, &c. MANAGEMENT IN PRESERVES. Cuapter IIT. Formation of Coverts ; Cuapter IV. Feeding in Coverts ... Cuarter V. Rearing and Protection MANAGEMENT IN CONFINEMENT, Cuaprer VJ. Formation of Pens and Aviaries page 1 23. 48 . BB 61 77 viii CONTENTS. Cuapter VII. Laying and Hatching page 6 Cuaprer VIII. Rearing the Young Birds ... « 11 DISEASES OF PHEASANTS. Cuaprer IX. . 181 The Gapes, Cramp, &c. PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT. Cuarrer X. The Common Pheasant tt en ie sai ... 150 Caaprmn XI. The Chinese Pheasant + aN ae ee ... 159 Cuarrer XII, The Japanese Pheasant... ai sic ae .. 165- i Cuarter XIII. The Mongolian Pheasant... wad o4 sien .. 173 _ Cuarrer XIV. Reeves’s Pheasant ... ss a Bx ms .. 178 CHAPTER XV. Hagenbeck’s Pheasant ive te me 4 ... 190 Cuaprer XVI. Prince of Wales’s Pheasant eg aoe re ... 192. Cuapter XVII. Scemmerring’s Pheasant ... sie ee Rn ... 197 CONTENTS. ix PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE AVIARY. Cuaprer XVIII. The Golden Pheasant Peis bea aie CHarrerR XIX. The Amherst Pheasant ae ns i we CHarrmrn XX. The Silver Pheasant si Cuaprer XXI. The Eared Pheasant... Cuaptzer XXII. ‘The Impeyan Pheasant Cuaprer XXIII. The Argus Pheasant APPENDIX A. TRANSPORT OF PHEASANTS APPENDIX B. FeErtitity or Hysrip REEvVuSs’s AND OTHER PHEASANTS page 204 wee 215 . 222 vo. 228 . 231 . 236 . 243 . 247 LIST OF PLATHS. COLOURED PLATES. Mongolian Pheasant (P. mongolicus) ... Common Pheasant (P. colchicus)... Chinese Pheasant (P. torquatus)... Japanese Pheasant (P. versicolor) Reeves’s Pheasant (P. reevesti) ... : Hagenbeck’s Pheasant (P. hagenbeckit) ENGRAVINGS. Common Pheasant (P. colchicus)... Bohemian Pheasant (P. colchicus—variety) d Hybrid Pheasant (Reeves’s and Bohemian) ) Chinese Pheasant (P. turquatus) ... Japanese Pheasant (P. versicolor) Reeves’s Pheasant (P. reevesit) ... Reeves’s Pheasant in Flight Reeves’s Pheasant in Covert ee ies Prince of Wales’s Pheasant (P. cadinalt Scemmerring’s Pheasant (P. semmerringit) Golden Pheasant (Thawmalea picta) ... oP d ”» a a) To face a) a” Bed a”? ” a) a2 2) ” . Frontispiece. . To face 150 159 165 178 190 154 156 163 169 183 185 188 192 197 204 xii LIST OF PLATES. Amherst Pheasant (Thaumalea amherstie) ...... To face 215 Silver Pheasant (Huplocamus nycthemerus) ...... ” 222 EHared Pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum) ... ‘5 228 Impeyan Pheasant (Lophophorus impeyanus) .. » 231 Argus Pheasant (Argus giganteus) ...........6..204. + 236 Argus Pheasant Displaying its Plumage ......... Ff 239 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. CHAPTER TI. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS. STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. ai HE PHEASANTS, properly so called (as dis- 4, tinguished from the allied but perfectly distinct genera 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 Mr. D. G. Elliott, in his splendid folio monograph on the Phasianide. Of thes. several are known only by rare specimens of their skins brought from little explored Asiatic countries, and others cannot be regarded as anything more than mere local or geographical varieties of well known species. Since the publication of Elliott’s Phasianide several additional species have been described. Mr. Ogilvie-Grant in his valuable “Handbook on Game Birds” published in Allen’s “ Natural History ” enumerates no less than eighteen species of true pheasants belonging to the genus Phasianus, of which he takes the common species, Phasianus colchicus, as the type, and additional species have B 2 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. since been described by Mr H. BH. Dresser and the Hon. Walter Rothschild. (See list at end of Chapter, p. 22.) 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) ; and Reeves Pheasant (P. reevesii). These, however, are so closely related in structure, form, and habits, that their natural history and general management may be given once for all, and their distinctive peculiarities pointed out subsequently. The pheasants constituting the genus Phasianus are readily distinguished by their tail feathers, which are eighteen in number, the middle pair being much the longest, and these attain their maximum development in 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, fre- quenting the margins of wood, 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, and more recently introduced into North America, Australia, and New Zealand, still retains its primitive habits. “Tt is,’ says Naumann, in his work on the “ Birds of Germany,” “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 under- bush and high grass grow between the trees, where thorn hedges, berry-growing bushes, and water overgrown with STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 3 ‘reeds, and here and there pastures and fields are found, are dts chosen places of abode. Nor must well-cultivated and grain-growing fields be wanting where this bird is to do well. Tt 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 might.” “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 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, acorns, beech mast, are alike acceptable to it. Naumann 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, &c., &e. Of berries: the wild mezereum (Daphne mezereum), wild strawberries (Fragaria), currants, elderberries from the species Sambucus racemosa, S. nigra, and S.ebulus; blackberries (Rubus ceesius, R. ideus, and R. fruiticosus); mistletoe (Viscum album); hawthorn (Cratcegus 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. dwmetorum ; black ‘pbindweed (P. convolvulus); knot grass (P. aviculare) ; and zalso those of the cow-wheat (Melampyrum) ; and acorns, -heech mast, &c., form a large portion of its food in the latter B 2 4 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. months of the year. Amongst forest plants, it likes the seeds: of the hemp-nettle (Galeopsis), and it also feeds on almost alk the seeds that the farmer sows.” To this long catalogue of its continental fare may be: added the roots of the silver weed (Potentilla anserina), and those of the pig-nut or earth-nut (Bunium flecuosum), 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 (Polypodium vulgare) in the crop of one which I opened in the winter of 1835. JI am not aware that any species of fern has ever been found constituting part of the food of aruminating 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 insectivorous; 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 STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 5 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. Hither -oats or Indian corn being thrown out every morning before the windows of the cottage for pheasants, ] had an oppor- tunity of observing their great preference of the former to ‘the latter. 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 autumn on the under side of the leaves. These galls are caused by the presence of the eggs of a gall-fly (Neuwroterus lenticularis), which may be reared from the spangles if they are collected in the autumn, and kept in a cool and rather moist atmos- phere 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 as evidently provided by these minute and dormant insects 6 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. with their vegetable incasement, in addition to the earth worms, slugs, &c., which induce the pheasants to forage. 80- 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 ; if this number- was consumed at a single meal, the total destroyed must be- almost incredible. There is no doubt that insects are pre- ferred 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 or daddy longlegs—these larvee are exceedingly destructive to the roots of the grass on lawns and pastures. As another instance of their insectivorous character may be mentioned the complaint of Waterton, that they had extir-- pated the grasshoppers from Walton Park. They also- occasionally eat molluscous animals. Mr. John Bishop, of Llandovery, killed a pheasant on the coast of Islay whose- crop was filled with the coloured snail’s shells abounding on the bents or grass stems on the coast. At the meeting of the- British Ornithologists’ Club, October 21, 1896, I exhibited some snail shells (Helix nemoralis) of full size, no less than forty-eight of which I had taken out of the crop of a pheasant. Lord Lilford, in his beautiful volumes on the “ Birds. of Northamptonshire,” writes: “The pheasant, where not preserved in unreasonable numbers, is a good friend to the- farmer, from the enormous number of wireworms and other- STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. ve noxious insects which it devours, to say nothing of its liking for the roots of various weeds; but it would be absurd to deny that grain forms its favourite food, and a field of standing beans will, as is well known, draw pheasants for miles. It is very much the fashion to feed the birds with maize ; but, in our own opinion, the flesh of pheasants which have been principally fed upon this corn is very far inferior in flavour to that of those who have found their own living upon what the land may offer them.” Like their allies, the domestic fowls, pheasants are occa- sionally carnivorous in their appetite. 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 what- ever, when plucked, of a violent death. On searching the gullet I extracted a short-tailed field mouse, which had doubtless caused death by strangulation.” And a similar instance was recorded by Mr Hutton, of Northallerton. The Hon. and Rev. C. Bathurst, in a letter published in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, vol. u., p. 158, relates that Sir John Ogilvy saw a pheasant flying off with a common slow- worm (Anguwis 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 Middle- sex,” that “on examining the crop of a pied pheasant, shot in October, 1864, I was surprised to find in it a common slow- worm (Anguts fragilis) which measured eight inches in length. It was not quite perfect, having lost the tip of the tail; other- wise, if whole, it would probably have measured nine inches.” In October, 1888, Mr. J. B. Footner, of Tunbridge Wells, forwarded to me three young vipers that were found with five others of equal size in the crop of a three parts grown hen pheasant, which he himself shot asa wild bird. Their length was slightly in excess of 7in., and the weight of the largest was exactly joz. They were evidently young of the 8 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. same brood. In his letter Mr Footner recalled the fact that Sir Kenelm Digby, who lived in the time of Charles L., and married a lady of great beauty, used to feed his wife on capons fatted on adders, which were believed to preserve beauty. Sir Kenelm Digby, whose portrait may be seen in Vandyke’s Iconography, was remarkable as a charlatan, who proposed to cure wounds by applying a sympathetic powder to the weapons they were caused by, and who published a treatise on “Secrets pour la Beauté des Dames,” from which the viper treatment is extracted. Mr George Fk. Passmore, of Speranza, Exeter, writing in the Field of June 2, 1900, states: “An extraordinary fatality occurred to one of my hen pheasants, confined with a number of others in a large pen, at Lambert, Hatherleigh, North Devon, on Sunday, November 27, between 11 a.m. and 4 pm. The pheasant, when found, had swallowed about 6in. of a viper, whilst about 8in. of the tail part of the reptile was protruding from the mouth of the bird. Both the bird and viper were dead.” 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, or proventiculus ; 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 cases in which pheasants or fowls are fed on too great an abundance of animal food, or any highly-stimulating diet, this organ becomes STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 9 inflamed, and death is frequently the result. From the pro- venticulus the food passes into the gizzard, which is lined with a dense thick skin; 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, &., and, as it passes from one extremity to the other, the nourish- ment 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 wing, 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. Colonel Turbervill, writing from Hwenny Priory, Glamorgan, in March 1897 states: “I was sitting in ‘our drawing-room, with a large plate glass window about 2 yards behind me, when I heard a loud crash, and a shower -of broken glass fell about me, one piece cutting my head. On looking round I saw a large hole in the upper part of the window, and a hen pheasant lying, nearly dead, between 3it. -and 4ft. from the window inside the room. The plate glass through which the pheasant flew is one-fifth of an inch thick, .and pieces of it were found on the carpet 14ft. from the window.” 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 38ft. 8in. by 3ft. 4in., and +in. 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 10 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. usually 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 qin. thick, in thousands. of fragments. Iam certain no blow from a man could have in like manner demolished the glass. 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 beg 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 distances that are un- known 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 the late Mr. J. Cordeaux, of Ulceby, who states that when STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 11 shooting in the marshes on the Lincolnshire side of the- Humber, near Grimsby, a man who works on the sea em- bankment 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. JI 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 conse- quently the moving powers or muscles of the breast are very large and well developed, taking their origin from the deep 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 larva: from beneath fallen leaves. Though seldom taking voluntarily to the water, the pheasant is quite capable 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 ofa 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. 12 PHEASANTS FOR COVERYS AND AVIARIES. 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 running 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 ahen, 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; butas he had some distance to go, by the time he reached the birds they were very much exhausted and half drowned, and were drift- ing 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 winged 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, wesembling the imperfect attempts of a young fowl, may be, STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 13: heard distinctly. 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 was carefully described by the late Mr. T. W. Wood, in an interesting article on the “ Courtship of Birds.” Pheasants seem to possess no other mode of display than the- lateral or one-sided method. In this the males disport them- selves so as to exhibit to the females a greater number of their beautiful feathers than could otherwise be seen at one view. The peculiar attitude assumed by the male of the common species is correctly shown in the vignette on page 42 at the end of Chapter II.; 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 sexual display of the plumage occur in the Argus and 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 uway the weaker, and the most vigorous propagate their kind. The nest of the female is usually a simple hollow scraped 14 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 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. Sometimes three hens will take to the same nest, and as many as thirty eggs have been seen resulting from their co-partnership. It is still more singular that the pheasant and the partridge often share the same nest. (See Zoologist, 1886, p. 295, in which volume also will be found mention of a pheasant and wild duck sharing ‘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 pheagant’s eggs. I accompanied him to the place, and ‘there saw the pheasant and partridge seated side by side -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’ respectively, in them. He carefully watched, and in all three cases found that the ‘pheasants were hatched with the young partridges: and in STRUCTURE. FOOD, AND HABITS. 15 September the young pheasants still kept with their respective coveys of partridges.” Sometimes the hen pheasant, and not the partridge, is the foster parent. In the neighbour- hood of Chesham, on May 6, 1878, 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. W. D. Collins, of Cuckfield, records the fact that he found a grey partridge sitting on twelve of her own eggs, nine eggs of the red-legged partridge, and nine pheasant’s eggs, all the three species having layed in the same nest. 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 instances have been recorded of wild hen pheasants laying in the nests -of tame and also of wild ducks, and in the nest of the corn- crake. 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 con- -cerned, for we have no artificial processes here—selected as the ‘site for her nesta 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 discovered -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 16 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIABRIES. 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 disposition and incubation 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 wp a spruce fir tree. I was incredulous, sol went with him, and had the under-man there toshowus. 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 flying vermin, as some had escaped the traps.” Another states: “A keeper on the Oulhorn 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 astonishment, eight pheasant’s 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 a 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 survive or are killed and carried away by predatory animals, or whether they are safely, STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 17 removed by the parent birds, and if so, by what means; even the following accounts do not throw much light upon the subject. In the Zoologist for 1894 (p. 266) the late Lord Lilford wrote that a pheasant had appropriated a wood- ‘pigeon’s nest, in which she laid nine eggs. Three young ‘birds were afterwards found dead at the foot of the tree which contained the nest, the inference being that the remainder of the brood had reached the ground insafety. 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, sand one bad egg.” A second stated that in the park at ‘Filingham, 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. A third reported that on the estate of tthe Marquis of Hereford, at Sudborne Hall, Suffolk, a ijpheasant had taken possession 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. Mr. Arthur Cole, of Eccles Hall, Attleborough, Norfolk, writing in 1897, states that “on May 7 I found a pheasant sitting on eight eggs in an old squirrel’s nest 16ft. 7in. from . ithe ground. It is the more curious as the nest is by no means -on strong boughs, and, therefore, must sway tremendously as ithe bird goes on and off.” 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 been hens that had assumed the male plumage, such an occurrence is even more c 18 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 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 condition 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: “TI 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: “TI 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.” Other cases of cock pheasants incubating have been recorded in The Field of July 5 and 19, 1892. Pheasants usually commence to lay in this country in April or May, the date varying somewhat with the season and the latitude. The eggs of penned birds have been found in the first week of April, and even in the last week of March (see: The Field, April 13, 1901). In consequence of the artificial: state in which they are kept in preserves, and the super- abundance of food with which they are supplied, the produc- STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. 19 tion 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 December 27, 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 ege 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 March, as they sit twenty-five days, and 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 road- side 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. IJ understand, from inquiry, that this is not a solitary instance of such an early brood of pheasants in South Devon.”’ c 2 20 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 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 September 8rd, 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 you, in order that you may inspect it.” I carefully examined the young bird, which was not more than two or three days old. On October 20, 1900, Mr. A. Dannege, of Colchester, forwarded to me a pheasant chick, one of a brood in a hedgerow, not near to any covert. These late-hatched birds were in all probability the produce of a second laying during the 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. 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 STRUCTURE, FOOD, AND HABITS. o1 friends, to decide a wager of which I was myself the loser.” On November 12, 1897, a cock was shot at Pluckley, in Kent, which weighed four and a half pounds. 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 preserva- tion. Mr. Akroyd further 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: “TI 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 Ganton, 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 after- wards being at Ganton, 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 22 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 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. The species of pheasants enumerated by Mr. Ogilvie Grant in his work on Game Birds are as follows :— 1. The Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). 2. The Persian Pheasant (P. persicus). 3. Prince of Wales’ Pheasant (P. princtpalis). 4. Zerafshan Pheasant (P. zerafshanicus). 5. Shaw’s Pheasant (P. shawz7). 6. Tarim Pheasant (P. tarimensis). 7. Oxus Pheasant (P. chrysomelas). 8. Mongolian Pheasant (P. mongolicus). 9. Chinese Pheasant (P. torquatus). 10. The Satschen Pheasant (P. satscheunensis). 11. Formosan Pheasant (P. formosanus). 12. Chinese Ringless Pheasant (P. decollatus). 13. Strauch’s Pheasant (P. strauchz). 14. Vlangali’s Pheasant (P. vlangaliz). 15. Stone’s Pheasant (P. elegans). 16. Japanese Pheasant (P. versicolor). 17. Semmerring’s Pheasant (P. semmerring?). 18. Reeves’s Pheasant (P. reevesii) ; in addition to which Mr. H. E. Dresser has described the following new Japanese species in The Ibis for 1902, p. 656 : 19. Ijima’s Pheasant (P. ijime) ; and the Hon. Walter Rothschild the following species in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, vol. xii., p. 20: 20. Berezowsky’s Pheasant (P. berezowskyi). 21. Hagenbeck’s Pheasant (P. hagenbeck) ; and to these should be added the closely allied birds which have been put in the genus Calophasis. These differ only from the other pheasants in having sixteen tail feathers, and the lower back of the males trans- versely barred. Two species only are known: 22, Hlliot’s Pheasant (Calophasis ellioti). 23. Hume’s Pheasant (C. humic). CHAPTER II. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS (CONTINUED). NON -DOMESTICITY — INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN—DISTRIBUTION. wal IS sometimes suggested by persons ignorant of a) the true nature of the pheasant, that it might be domesticated and reared like our ordinary farm- yard 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 thou- sands of years capturing, subduing, and taming hundreds of different species of animals of all classes; but of these the number that he has succeeded in really domesticating does not amount to fifty. A very large proportion of animals are capable of being tamed, and rendered perfectly familiar with man; but this is a totally distinct state from one of ‘domestication. The common pheasant is a good example of this distinction. Individual 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 many 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 JSerrugineus), the original of our domestic breeds of poultry, if reared in confinement, becomes immediately domesticated, 94 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. the young returning home at night with a regularity that. has given rise to the proverbial saying that “ Curses, like- chickens, return 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 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. in a fine cock pheasant which inhabited, or rather infested, the grounds and shrubbery. 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 promised 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 there-- fore 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. rd NON-DOMESTICIT Y—DISTRIBUTION. OD 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 bronght 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 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 afancy; but, different from the magpie or jackdaw 26 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 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. I have seen her, itis 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. Mr. Charles Waterton, of Walton Hall, York- shire, who died in 1865, made the attempt under most advan- tageous circumstances, and thus recounts the results 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 domesti- cation 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 NON-DOMESTICITY—DISTRIBUTION. 27 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 con- fidence. 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 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, there are no records which afford any clue to the period when it was first brought into this country ; .and though probably its acclimatisation does not date further back 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. Lord Lilford in his ‘Notes on the Birds of Northampton- .shire,” writes: ‘“‘ There appears to be no reason to doubt that the pheasant was introduced into England by the Romans, and the bird has now become so spread over most parts -of Europe that it is almost impossible to say where it is really indigenous.” This suggestion is possibly near the truth, for the pheasant ‘has been shown by Prof. Boyd Dawkins to have been naturalised in this country upwards of eight hundred years. Writing to The Ibis for 1869 (page 358), that gentleman says: ‘“Tt may interest your readers to know that the most ancient 28 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. record of the occurrence of the pheasant in Great Britain is: to be found in the tract ‘De inventione Sanctz Crucis nostra: 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 cirea 1177, was as follows (p. 16) : Erant autem tales pitantie unicuique canonico : a festo Sancti Michaelis. usque ad caput jejunii [Ash Wednesday] aut xii merule, aut ii agansex: [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 conquerors, 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.” But the conclusion that the pheasant was introduced into: England before the Norman Conquest is not regarded ' as- proved by those authorities who consider the tract “De. inventione Crucis” as a miracle-mongering work that no- cautious antiquary would accept as conclusive evidence, 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- NON-DOMESTICITY—DISTRIBUTION. 29 reign of King Henry the First, which commenced on the second of August, 1100; and Daniell, in his “Rural Sports,” quotes “ Echard’s 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 the Rev. James Davis in the Saturday Review, “might have been added another which seems to set the pheasant at a higher premium—to wit, that in 1170 Thomas 4 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.’” Those who are interested in the subject will find a most interesting series of extracts respecting the medieval history of this bird in Mr. Harting’s “‘ Ornithology of Shakespeare,” from which we quote the following : “ Leland, in his account of the feast given at the inthronisa- tion of George Nevell, Archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward IV., tells us that, amongst other good things, two hundred ‘fesauntes’ were provided for the guests. “Tn the ‘Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York,’ under date ‘ the xiiij™ day of Novembre,’ the following entry occurs : “«Ttm. The same day to Richard Mylner of Byndfeld for bringing a present of fesauntes cokkes to the Queen to Westminster ae vs.’ “Tn the ‘Household Book’ of Henry Percy, fifth Harl of Northumberland, which was commenced in 1512, the pheasant is thus referred to: “