PHEASANT. 347 



explosion, or other loud noise will start the Pheasant's crow, 

 and during the war, air-raids before audible to human ears 

 were responded to by the agitation of the sensitive birds. My 

 most remarkable personal experience was on the morning of 

 January 24th, 191 5, when, in a Cheshire wood, I was struck by 

 the frequent crowing of the cocks ; in my note-book I wrote — 

 " Cock Pheasants crowing constantly, and wing-flapping after 

 each crow." Two days later I commented on the fact in the 

 Manchester Guai'dian, but attributed it to the mildness of the 

 weather, and it was only when reports were received of similar 

 disturbances in Norfolk, Lincoln, and Cumberland that I 

 reahsed that the Cheshire birds had also been influenced by 

 the air vibrations of the heavy guns in the North Sea battle, 

 some 400 miles away. 



Whether naturally the bird is polygamous or monogamous 

 has never been settled ; pedal armature is not conclusive 

 evidence of polygamy. It is to the advantage of the hen as an 

 egg-laying machine that cocks, which are acknowledged bullies, 

 should not be too abundant, and man, trading on this, hatches 

 the eggs under foster parents, pretending that the Pheasant is a 

 bad mother. She, certainly, will deposit her eggs in the nests 

 of the Partridge, Mallard, or other bird, and cheerfully leave 

 them, but at times is attentive ; the less she is interfered with 

 the better she does her work. The nest is a hollow in cover, 

 lined with a little grass and a few leaves ; the olive eggs 

 (Plate 148) vary in number, ten or twelve are common, and are 

 laid in April and onward. Occasionally the eggs are in old 

 nests of other birds in trees. The size of the bird varies 

 according to the breed and the length of the tail, that of the 

 Mongolian race, one of the more recently established, being 

 perhaps the longest. Length, 24 to 36 ins. Wing, 9*5 ins. 

 Tarsus, 2'5 ins. 



