REEVES'S PHEASANT. 195 



higher degree than the ring-necked species, and is of a very 

 wild and wary nature, it is not a desirable bird from a 

 sporting point of view, except in very large ranges of wood- 

 land ; and from what we have heard from a friend, who has 

 been in the native haunts of this fine bird in the mountains 

 of Northern China, we are inclined to think that it is more 

 likely to prosper in Scotland and in Wales than in our own 

 Midlands. The hybrids between this and the common 

 pheasant are beautiful birds, but not, so far as we have been 

 able to ascertain, prolific." 



The late Mr. Home, of Hereford, who reared numbers of 

 Reeves's pheasants, forwarded to me a letter from a lady 

 who has been most successful with them in the extreme north 

 of England. Regarding this species she writes : 



" The cock and two hens I purchased have done wonders, 

 and my estate is now fairly stocked with birds, I having put all 

 the season's eggs in nests of the common pheasant, except 

 a few which I reared myself and a few which I sold. My 

 hens last season averaged nearly fifty eggs each not bad 

 laying." 



Not only in the extreme north, but in the more cultivated 

 parts of England, Reeves's pheasants have done well. One 

 gentleman informed me that during the year 1895 he raised 

 more than twenty in the open, which afterwards attained full 

 plumage, and found them easy to rear. In January, 1909, a 

 Reeves's cock pheasant, measuring 5ft. 9in., is reported to 

 have been shot at Rolvenden, Kent. 



There can be no doubt whatever that, as suggested by 

 Lord Lilford, the bird being from North China, is hardy and 

 well adapted to mountainous districts, such as those of Scot- 

 land and Wales. It appears that the easiest way of intro- 

 ducing it as a wild bird in those places to which it is adapted 

 would be to place the eggs in the nests of pheasants breeding 

 in the open. Reared in those circumstances, the young 

 would be hardy and vigorous in the extreme, and would be 

 much more likely to do well than if hand-reared and turned 



o 2 



