NATURAL HISTORY 27 



is now firmly established in our eastern 

 and southern countries, though still a 

 stranger in the north and west. In 

 Scotland he is unknown, though recently 

 some have been turned down in the 

 sandy soil of Aberdeen, where they would 

 seem likely to thrive and multiply. 



First brought over to this country 

 about the middle of the seventeenth 

 century and enlarged in Windsor Forest, 

 by far the largest influx coincided with 

 the rush of other emigres from France, 

 such time as the shadow of the guillotine 

 lay dark on that sunny land. Most of the 

 new-comers were turned out on Norfolk 

 and Suffolk estates, spreading thence 

 through the neighbouring counties. 



Commonly known as Frenchmen, the 

 name seems singularly apposite, for they 

 have many of the qualities and character- 

 istics we are wont to attribute to the 

 French nation. They are gay in appear- 

 ance, and their showy plumage of olive- 

 brown back, blue-grey and rufous brown 

 breast, black and cream throat, and flanks 



