THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 
some kind, such as plantations and woods with plenty of 
undergrowth or thick hedges. When such crops as clover, 
grain, turnips, and so forth are sufficiently matured to 
afford shelter the bird is very fond of skulking amongst 
them, but at nightfall it always resorts to a roosting-place 
amongst the branches. It is a fairly social bird, and in 
well-stocked covers may be seen in companies feeding 
and running together. During the pairing season, how- 
ever, the cocks are quarrelsome and pugnacious, fighting 
amongst themselves for the hens, but as soon as the eggs 
are laid this martial spirit dies out and they live in peace 
together. The Pheasant is wary and watchful when 
feeding out of cover, either on the fields or the broad 
drives in the woods, and at the least alarm the cocks 
usually hurry off at once, running or flying to a place of 
concealment, but the hens generally crouch flat to the 
ground, where their brown plumage very effectually 
shields them. The food of this species consists of grain, 
peas, beans, tender shoots of clover and other herbage, 
acorns, beech-mast, berries of many kinds, worms and in- 
sects, especially ants and their eggs. In places frequented 
by Pheasants the harsh crow or cor-r-k of the male is 
heard occasionally through the day, but towards night the 
crowing becomes almost continuous as the birds retire to 
roost. In this country the Pheasant is polygamous, but 
in its native wilds in Western Asia it appears to be mono- 
gamous. Pairing takes place in March, and the eggs are 
laid in April and May. ‘The scanty nest, a slight hollow, 
lined with dead leaves or dry scraps of herbage, is made 
by the hen, in some quiet, sheltered hedge-bottom or 
amongst tangled undergrowth in the coverts. ‘The 
eight to a dozen eggs are usually uniform olive-brown, 
but sometimes bluish green, one of the latter being seen 
in a clutch of the ordinary colour. ‘The hen takes sole 
charge of the brood, but she is not a very careful mother, 
and seldom succeeds in bringing all the chicks to maturity. 
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