133 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



circumstances that is not likely to be met with the amount 

 of harvestable grain which Pheasants consume is exceedingly 

 small. Even in the fields of ripening corn, the grain is for 

 the most part beyond their reach, while at that season the 

 supplies of their natural, insect food are practically in- 

 exhaustible. For a short time after the corn is cut, and 

 before the fields are cleared, some grain will be theirs that 

 would otherwise be raked up and carried to the corn-loft ; 

 but much of it is second quality grain, and weather- 

 blemished, at best, and of very little consequence to the 

 farmer or the nation. In the sowing months, some grain 

 again comes their way ; but as in the case of the Wood- 

 pigeon, most of this is grain left uncovered by the harrow, 

 which would never have germinated in any event. Sprouted 

 grain does appear amongst the crop-contents of one bird, 

 killed on 16th April 1910, and reported on by Miss Florence 

 {Trans. High, and Agric. Soc. for 191 2, p. 180); 287 grains 

 were counted, of which 25 were " sprouted " ; but this large 

 quantity of grain suggests that the bird had discovered 

 the site of a recently threshed-out corn-stack, where, of 

 course, plenty of spilled grain, both sprouted and unsprouted, 

 is usually to be found ; and in the absence of any evidence 

 on the point, the crop contents cannot be accepted as 

 proof of actual damage of any kind. Perhaps among the 

 worst "injuries" attributable to Pheasants is their habit 

 of dusting themselves among the furrows of a ripening 

 potato field, and so uncovering some of the tubers to the 

 air, and their sitting about on " second-growth " clover and 

 grass, which twists it, and renders it difficult to cut at 

 these particular spots ; but the actual loss under either 

 of these heads cannot amount in all to anything very 

 material. 



Be it remembered also that a Pheasant is in itself a 

 valuable food product, with smaller bones and more flesh, 

 weight for weight, than a domestic fowl, and normally 

 cheaper to buy. 



Dr Collinge's exhaustive analyses of the crop-contents 

 of 183 Pheasants, obtained from all parts of the country, 

 and at various times of the year, are given in a paper 



