98 PHASIANID^. 



<a pale buff-coloured variety which crops up iu certain 

 localities. 



Whilst on the subject of introduction, it may be men- 

 tioned that Pheasants have been imported both from England 

 and China into New Zealand, where they have multiplied 

 with marvellous rapidity. The Chinese Pheasant was 

 acclimatized in the island of St. Helena in 1513 by some 

 Portuguese exiled from Goa, and their descendants continue 

 to thrive ; a slight variation from the original type being 

 noticeable in their plumage, probably owing to the influences 

 of altered climate and diet. Pheasants have also been intro- 

 duced in the neighbouring island of Ascension. 



Woods that are thick at the bottom, with long grass kept 

 up by brambles and bushes, thick plantations, or marshy 

 islands and moist grounds overgrown with rushes, reeds, or 

 osiers, are the favourite resorts of Pheasants, in default of 

 which they take to thick hedgerows, but can seldom be 

 induced to remain long on any ground bare of shelter, how- 

 ever undisturbed. Wood and water are indispensable. 



The short crow of the males may be heard in March, when 

 they fight freely for the possession of the hens, and display 

 their plumage to the greatest advantage. The females have 

 been known to commence laying in that month, although, as 

 a rule, not until April, hatching by the end of May or the 

 beginning of June. Sitting birds have also been found as 

 late as the beginning of September. They make a slight nest 

 upon the ground, iu which they deposit from ten to fourteen 

 eggs, measuring about 1'85 by 1*45 in., generally of a 

 uniform olive-brown colour ; but pale bluish varieties are, 

 however, not uncommon. The well-known suppression of the 

 scent in a sitting hen, so necessary for the safety of a ground- 

 nesting species, is due, iu the opinion of Mr. Tegetmeier, to 

 vicarious secretion ; that is to say, the odoriferous particles 

 which are usually exhaled by the skin are, during incubation, 

 excreted into the intestinal canal. 



Incubation lasts about twenty-four days. Two and even 

 three hen Pheasants will sometimes lay in the same nest, 

 and many instances are on record of nests containing both 



