i6 



BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



pounds being not very unfrequently recorded. It is remarkable that, although so 

 closely allied to the domestic fowl, the Pheasant is incapable of true domestication, 

 the young birds, after being reared, always taking to the woods and trees as they 

 arrive at maturity. In our own country at the present time, the Pheasant may 

 be generally regarded as a semi-domesticated bird, the eggs being usually collected 

 and hatched under hens, the young being placed in the open under the care of 

 their foster parents, which are usually confined in coops. Under these conditions 

 they are fed until they are able to take refuge and roost in the trees. 



The manner in which wounded and mal-formed Pheasants, as well as other 

 species, adapt themselves to new conditions of life, is very remarkable. The first 



engraving shows the head of a bird 

 which was forwarded to me in very fair 

 condition, weighing two pounds five ounces, 

 with thirty-three beech-nuts in its crop. 

 Both mandibles had been cut off just in 

 front of the nostrils, evidently by a steel 

 trap, the tongue, however, protruded from 

 the mouth, and although the bird had not 

 the power, apparently, of taking up small 

 seeds, it was well nourished on the beech- 

 masts it obtained. The second engraving 

 represents the head of a Pheasant in 

 which the upper mandible had been shot away, nevertheless, the bird when killed 

 was in very good condition, being able to feed itself, apparently, without much 

 difficulty. When the birds are being shot 

 at in the coverts and alarmed, they fly with 

 such rapidity, that if the head comes in 

 contact with a small branch, the upper 

 mandible is not unfrequently bent down and 

 forced through the lower jaw. In these 

 cases it is utterly impossible that the bird 

 can feed, as the mouth cannot be opened, 

 and the bird, if discovered, is usually found 

 to have been starved to death. Like most 

 birds that are bred under artificial conditions, variations of plumage occur. Pied 

 Pheasants are not uncommon in some coverts, and pure white examples occasion- 

 ally make their appearance. Another variation that occasionally occurs is the 

 production of the plumage of a buff colour, instead of the dark rich ground which 



FIG. 2. 



