234 THE PHEASANT 



WINGED GAME 



Under the head of "game," strictly so called, are included, 

 throughout the United Kingdom, grouse, black game, pheasants, 

 partridges, and hares ; for the practically extinct bustard may be 

 left out of consideration for ordinary purposes, and the ptarmigan 

 is only to be found in Scotland. In Ireland quails and landrails 

 are included among " game," but, although not so designated in 

 the Acts relating to Great Britain, these birds cannot be legally 

 shot without a game licence ; and a similar remark may be made 

 with regard to woodcock and snipe. Other wild-fowl, not game, 

 are protepted by the Wild Birds Protection Act, the close season 

 extending from March i to August i ; but this is liable to modifica- 

 tion by County Councils, even relaxed in respect of certain birds 

 particularly injurious to fisheries, such as terns on the East Suffolk 

 coast, and Devonshire Exe Fishery District in respect of cormorants 

 or shags, owing to their destructiveness to the salmon fisheries ; 

 and as the list of protected birds varies, it is necessary for cultiva- 

 tors to provide themselves with that relating to the respective 

 district. 



PHEASANT. The pheasant, as its name proclaims, is the bird of 

 Phasis, the Caucasian river that falls into the Black Sea not far 

 from the modern Batoum. But if the Argonauts brought it thence, 

 as legends set forth, they certainly did not bring it so far as England. 

 The bird, however, was at least naturalized in this country very long 

 ago, if it was not a native. King John in 1190 granted to William 

 Briwere a licence to " hunt the hare, fox, cat, and wolf in Devonshire, 

 with a 'free warren' throughout all his own lands for hares, 

 pheasants and partridges," which implies that pheasants then 

 ran wild. Before that, the Abbot of Amesbuiy is said to have been 

 licensed by Henry I to kill hares and pheasants, and King Harold's 

 regulations prescribe a pheasant as an alternative to two partridges 

 in the rations of the canons of W T altham Abbey. 



When pheasant-rearing for purposes of sport was instituted we 

 have no distinct or definite data ; though an introduced l bird it 

 probably obtained from very remote times. Be that as it may, 

 it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that pheasant- 

 rearing came much into vogue, though for a long time before a 

 good stock of pheasants were kept in the coverts by regular feeding 

 by placing small stacks of unthrashed corn in different parts of the 

 wood, raising them about a foot from the ground, and so affording 

 amusement for the birds as well as food. This is supplemented by 

 hand-feeding with maize, wheat, barley, buckwheat, dari and oats. 

 Maize is generally preferred to the smaller grain, for one reason 



1 This is very questionable as regards the old English or dark-necked 

 (Phasianus folchicus), 



