THE PHEASAXT. 159 



themselves. The males and females are not associated 

 during a great part of the year, but in the spring the male 

 bird chooses his mates, generally about six or eight in 

 number. During a part of the breeding season the males 

 roost near to the females, and exhibit considerable watch- 

 fulness and spirit in defence of their consorts, but when the 

 eggs are laid, the males seem to become quite indifferent, 

 and leave the entire charge of the broods to the females. 



The nest is made on the ground, and is composed of 

 leaves or dried stalks ; it is sometimes placed in the long 

 grass or clover of a field, and occasionally in woods and 

 plantations. The eggs vary in number from six to ten, 

 and frequently more ; indeed, so many eggs have been 

 found in a nest, that the supposition is commonly held 

 that sometimes more than one Pheasant lays in the same 

 nest. Pheasants have been also known to Jay their eggs 

 in the nest of the partridge. 



The colour of the eggs is an uniform olive-brown, 

 minutely dotted all over ; in some instances, however, they 

 are greyish-white, tinged with green. 



The hen Pheasant attends very closely to the require- 

 ments of her brood, and bestows on them her constant care 

 and protection until the moulting season. 



The young Pheasant is very subject to a disease called 

 the gapes, and this affection is at times exceedingly 

 destructive, especially to birds in confinement. 



In its flight the Pheasant is laboured and heavy; it 

 expands the tail, flaps the wings rapidly, and scuds or sails 

 along for some distance before alighting on the ground. 

 When disturbed in thick woods, the bird rises for some 

 few yards with considerable violence and velocity, and then 

 slowly flies away, as already mentioned. The general 



