THE PHEASANT FAMILY 13 



We have shot as many as 30 cocks in a day at 

 Woburn. The hens get shot very freely in 

 mistake for common cocks by those who are un- 

 accustomed to distinguishing them. 



We have tried many other species of pheasants, 

 but with the exception of Mongolians and P. 

 versicolor^ none are of any use for sporting pur- 

 poses. 



This failed to set the mind entirely at 

 rest, for there was no mention made of 

 such birds as the Copper or Soemerring's 

 pheasant and the Monaul, both of which 

 have been freely praised for their sporting 

 qualities by writers whose opinion is en- 

 titled to respect, and by them warmly 

 commended for introduction to our game 

 coverts. 



The writer therefore ventured to 

 approach the same authority once more 

 on the subject, receiving in reply the 

 following letter : — 



April 11, 1912. 

 In your first letter you asked me to tell you the 

 result of any experiments we had made with 

 pheasants which were useful from a sporting point 

 of view. I therefore only mentioned those which 

 could be regarded as useful for sport in this 



