252 PHEASANT. 



They are essentially ground birds, seldom flying unless 

 compelled, preferring to travel with their legs rather 

 than with their wings. They run with great swiftness, 

 and when they take to the wing their flight is low and 

 noisy, though fairly rapid. The food of these birds 

 is varied : young shoots, grain, worms, insects and 

 berries. Their note is a harsh croak, which is often 

 heard in the evening when the birds are retiring to 

 roost in the trees, and is a sure guide to the wily 

 poacher with his air gun or slipnoose. 



The bird makes a very scanty nest, nearly always 

 on the ground beneath the shelter of some bramble 

 or fern. Just a few leaves or bits of dead bracken and 

 grass are scraped together, and on these from eight 

 to twelve eggs are laid, sometimes more. They are 

 unspotted, but vary much in colour ; some are light 

 brown, others light green, others again nearly white. 



In the last year I came upon no less than three 

 nests in each of which there was a mixture of Par- 

 tridges' and Pheasants' eggs. In all three cases a 

 Partridge was sitting. I ascertained from the keeper 

 that eggs had not been placed there. Do the 

 Pheasants around us, by some process of evolution, 

 begin to recognise that a foster-mother is necessary ? 

 But I notice that other writers have come across 

 similar instances. Eggs of the Pheasant have also 

 been found in Wild Ducks' nests ; and the Pheasant 

 will sometimes mate with other species of game birds 

 and with the domestic fowl.* 



The Cock Pheasant rejoices in the most beautiful 



* The birds do not pair, and in the breeding season some 

 half-dozen females belong to one male ; as soon as the eggs 

 are laid the cock bird thinks no more about his wives or his 

 future offspring. 



