Pheasants : their natural history and practical management
Tegetmeier, W. B. (William Bernhard), 1816-1912
+t * tilwhe ser, | =—SS= —S= ! di vies | j fs IK ( fl wns <i AB iil all THH ARGUS PHHASANT DISPLAYING ITS PLUMAGH. PHEASANTS: THEIR Natural History and Practical Management. BY W. B. TEGETMEIER, F.ZS. Ate (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. Gey PED? OFEPICH, Ste, STRAND. 1881. (All rights reserved.) PREFACE. 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 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. TEGETMETER. FIncatey, N. March, 1881. CONTENTS. CHAP. I.—NaturaL Hisrory or tHE Purasants—Habits, Food, Structure, &.... 1 PaGE Li. * a rp 3 Introduction, Distribution, &c. 14 I1].—ManaGeMENT In PRESERVES—Formation of Coverts ..........:ccccceeeeeeee 24 IV. z He x Needing tm Coverts ; S2-2.05. -s.ceocet teen ae Ve "5 . = Rearing and Protection .................... 37 VI.—MaANAGEMENT IN CONFINEMENT—Pens and Aviaries.................:0:025. 50 WALT: e sy a Laying and Hatching ..................... 60 Vit. . - 53 Rearing the Young Birds ................ 71 IX.—DtsHases oF PHeasants—The Gapes, Cramp, &. ........ceeceeeeeeeeeeeeee BL X.—PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE CovERT—The Common Pheasant ......... 89 bai Pa x z 3 The Chinese Pheasant ............ 94 XII. . x a The Japanese Pheasant ......... 98 XeEIT: % * - re Scemmerring’s Pheasant ......... 103 mel’. s %5 zs dl Reeves’s Pheasant ............055 109 XV.—PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE Aviany—The Golden Pheasant ............ 111 XVI. s 2 ss i The Amherst Pheasant ......... 121 XVII. * rs pa ie The Silver Pheasant................ 126 XVIII. Se oe 8 ss The Eared Pheasant............... 129 SXGTEX. Fe ae - Bs The Impeyan Pheasant ......... 131 XX. is “4 a 4 The Argus Pheasant ............ 184 APPENDIX. “TRANSPORT OF PHEASANTS ......... . 139 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. CHAPTER I. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS. Wy es Gh . mi HABITS, FOOD, STRUCTURE, ETC. s a ro )HE PHEASANTS, properly so called (as distinguished from the allied foe ak but perfectly distinct groups which include the Gold and Silver ae #) 4 pheasants, the Kaleege, the Monaul, &c.) constitute the genus = yee ’ : “y2 or group known to naturalists under the title Phasianus. Of : ons “) the true pheasants no less than thirteen distinct species have X VARS Vl been described by the most recent writer on the subject, Mr. > Cr D. G. Elliot, in his magnificent monograph on the Phasianide. Of these several are known only by rare specimens of their skins \ brought from scarcely explored Asiatic countries, and others cannot be regarded as anything more than mere local or geographical varieties of well a 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 im 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- erowing 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.” “Tn 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, acorns, 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 larvee, 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., &c. Of berries: the wild mezereum (Daphne Mezerewm), wild strawberries (Hragaria), currants, elderberries from the species Sambucus racemosa, S. nigra, and S. Hbulus ; blackberries (Rubus cesius, R. ideus, and R. fruticosus); misletoe (Visewm album) ; hawthorn (Orategus 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. 3 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 it& 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. 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 grasshoppers 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 Rey. C. Bathurst, DIGESTIVE ORGANS—POWER OF FLIGHT. 5 in a letter published in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii., p. 158, 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 (Anguis 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, &e., 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 czeca, 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 fromthe 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. Sin. by 3ft. 4in., and Hin. 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 PHHASANTS. a mirror reflecting the outer landscape. It is needless to say the bird was killed instantaneously. Two hen pheasants had on previous occasions heen 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. 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 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 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 thé 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. 9 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 outs 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 seleet 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 flying 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.” Tt 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 Hield 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 evound ; 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. 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 c 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 3rd 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 PHHASANTS. 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 Gmnaton, 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 II. NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS (CONTINUED). NON-DOMESTICITY—INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN—DISTRIBUTION. fata of the pheasant, that it might be domesticated and reared like ey our ordinary farmyard fowl. Such persons are apparently not ol oe aware that the instinct of domestication is one of the rarest bi 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 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 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 We Ds ZN “Ae A a ‘) ." fj | Sy Jie NG a iy IN 4 F ae th / ie vi Vi Hy Hy Hf Ui f 4 Wid } \ c ve it i i , ni i uA Ni r| iy “pS \s nA " if i bi Zs Yi f \ 4 yay My iN Vi By i 7 Paes ONG NUN VA f im WA ih, COMMON PHEASANT (Phasianus Colchicus). 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. 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 testifymg every symptom of uneasiness 16 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHHASANTS. 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. 