COMMON PHEASANT. 281 



and forms a great portion of its food during the montlis of 

 May and June ; and another friend has noticed that they also 

 feed on the pilewort crowfoot, Ranunculus Jicaria. At the 

 latter end of autumn I have fovmd their crops distended with 

 acorns of so large a size, that they could not have been swal- 

 lowed without great difficulty. Towards and throughout the 

 Avinter, Pheasants in preserves, to prevent them from straying 

 away in their search for food, require to be supplied con- 

 stantly with barley in the straw, or beans, or both ; and one 

 good mode of inducing them to stop at home is to sow in 

 summer, beans, peas, and buckwheat, mixed together, leav- 

 ing the whole crop standing on the ground : the strong and 

 tall stalks of the beans carry up, sustain, and support the 

 other two, and all three together afford, for a long time, both 

 food and cover. 



During summer, till the old birds have completed their 

 seasonal moult. Pheasants do not roost constantly in trees, 

 but afterwards they may be heard, about dusk, to go up to 

 their roost, by the flutter of their wings, and their peculiar 

 notes ; the male giving his short chuckling crow, and the 

 female her more shrill piping whistle, as soon as they get 

 upon their feet on the branch : both generally roost upon the 

 smaller trees, and near the stem. Unless disturbed, and 

 obliged to secure their safety by flight. Pheasants seldom use 

 their wings, except as before noticed, at night and morning : 

 nor have they much occasion, as a mode of progression ; the 

 facility and speed with which they can get over the ground by 

 running is quite surprising. Pheasants do not pair, and ex- 

 cept during the spring, the males and females do not even 

 associate. During the shooting season the males are found 

 together, and are also observed to be much more wary and on 

 the alert than the females. An old cock Pheasant imme- 

 diately on hearing a dog give tongue in a wood where he is, 

 Avill foot away to the nearest corner, particularly if the wood 



