VOL. X.J NOTES. 69 



COCK PHEASANT INCUBATING. 



Some days ago my attention was called by one of the 

 haymakers to a cock Pheasant sitting on seven eggs. I could 

 hardly believe his statement, but on visiting the spot it was 

 found to be perfectly accurate, and subsequently six out 

 of the seven eggs hatched off. Nothing has been seen of 

 the brood and they are probably dead, as the weather has 

 been very bad. I have heard of Turkeys being induced 

 to care for broods, also domestic cocks and capons, but not 

 to incubate, and I never knew a cock Pheasant take the 

 slightest interest in a nest except perhaps to eat the eggs. 

 It was not a case of a hen bird assuming the male plumage, 

 but an ordinary cock. Heatley Noble. 



[A good many instances of cock Pheasants incubating have 

 been recorded from time to time, and in County Life for 

 June 30th, 1906, a photograph of one on the nest was 

 published. See also Field, June 27th. 1891 •, July 5th and 

 19th, 1902 ; June 5th and July 10th, 1909, and July 22nd, 

 1911, for other instances. — Eds.] 



Breeding Habits of the Crasshopper-Warbler. — 

 Mr. H. B. Booth contributes a paper to the Naturalist, 1916, 

 pp. 167-170, 199-203, based upon the observations of Mr. S. 

 Longbottom, in which some interesting evidence is brought 

 forward as to the incubation and nestling period of Locustella 

 n. nopvia and also with regard to the persistency of reeling 

 during the breeding- season and the question whether it is 

 double brooded or not. 



In this case incubation apparently had begun with the 

 fifth egg on May 3Cth, though another was laid on the following 

 day, and on June 11th four eggs had hatched out, while on 

 the 13th all six were hatched. This gives an incubation 

 period of about twelve days, or thirteen if incubation began 

 with the fourth egg. A writer in Country Life (July 10th, 1909) 

 notes that in a nest in which the sixth egg was laid on May 31st, 

 the young were hatched out by June 14th, which is confirmatory 

 as far as it goes. Mr. H. E. Howard, however (Brit. Warblers, 

 Ft. I., p. 19), states that it lasts for "about sixteen days." 

 Here the period is almost certainly over-estimated, when one 

 considers the size of the bird, and the corresponding period 

 in allied species. 



The fledging period was about ten days in the first case 

 and nine in the second, while according to Miss E. L. Turner's 

 observations the young remain twelve days in the nest. 



