CHAPTER II 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 



All the five green -headed pheasants 

 whose blood may be traced in the hybrid 

 bird of our coverts have to all intents 

 and purposes the same life-history ; their 

 means and methods of carrying on the 

 business of existence differ in no par- 

 ticular of practical import, and so, in these 

 rough notes, all the parent stocks and 

 their numerous but nameless offspring 

 may be included under the simple title of 

 'the pheasant' 



The pheasant then is naturally a bird 

 of the valley, a dweller in underwood and 

 thicket on the lower slopes of the hills, or 

 in reedbed and rough growth along the 

 water's edge. Disturbed on some excur- 

 sion, the pheasant makes homewards, and 



33 3 



