50 PHEASANTS 



completion and the hen begins to get 

 broody. 



Like other game birds, the hen pheasant 

 gives off little scent when she is sitting, 

 though whether this protective faculty be 

 due to actual — if unconscious — suppres- 

 sion of the scent, or rather to the feathers 

 being kept motionless and close to the 

 body, is not very clear. The strong 

 odour of the fseces at this period would 

 seem to support the theory that the scent 

 is actually diverted from its usual channels, 

 while the return of the scent shortly before 

 hatching, when the feathers of the sitting 

 bird are all ruffed up, certainly suggests 

 nothing more obscure than the familiar 

 instance on shooting days of the wounded 

 bird unable to escape and seeking to efface 

 itself by crouching motionless, and thus 

 so often setting the keenest-nosed dogs 

 at fault, in which case any actual sup- 

 pression of scent can only be due to a 

 conscious and voluntary effort on the part 

 of the bird. 



The awe-inspiring words which form 



