248 BIRDS. 



to look for the food placed in certain spots by the keepers. 

 It is remarkable how oblivious these birds have grown of 

 the passing train. Even in the height of the shooting 

 season, when they might be expected to be shy, both 

 sexes will feed placidly within 20 yards of the track; 

 indeed so little fear does the steaming engine inspire in 

 them, that a cock-pheasant is said to have flown (March 

 1897) into a first-class compartment, closely pursued by a 

 hawk, the latter withdrawing, and its victim soon dying 

 of its injuries. The way in which these birds will, w^hen 

 disturbed, run swiftly under cover, then, rising in a curve, 

 top the nearest hedge and alight in some sheltered place 

 beyond, is well known. The hen bird, whose sober 

 colours certainly bear a close resemblance to those of 

 earth, especially in a ploughed field, is said on good 

 authority to rely somewhat on this protective colouring, 

 crouching where she stands, and only rising reluctantly 

 and at the last moment. Although I have commonly ob- 

 served this crouching in the partridge, I must confess to 

 having missed it in the larger bird, my idea having been 

 that she behaves very like her lord, but escapes, if possible, 

 by running under cover. 



Like most birds of this group, the pheasant passes most 

 of its time on the ground, the shelter of dense undergrowth 

 suiting it better than high trees, though it usually roosts 

 in them, and has been known to lay its eggs in deserted 

 nests at a great height from the ground, — a departure from 

 the normal state of things that recalls the nests of the 

 cushat which I have more than once found on the ground. 

 The cock bird fights gallantly for his establishment of 

 hens, and is, as a rule, prompt to desert them as soon 

 as the young appear. Like all grain -eating birds, the 

 pheasant is a great drinker. The cock-pheasant is too 

 familiar to need description, but it is desirable to draw 

 attention in passing to the remarkable spur at the back 

 of the leg — a spur tliat recalls that in the beaver, platypus, 

 and clianticleer. Old hen pheasants that no longer busy 



