418 RASORES. PHASIANUS. PHEASANT, 



considerable size, readily to be distinguished also by its long 

 tail, and at the same time not easily frightened from its perch, 

 it offers a sure mark during moonlight nights to the gun of 

 the poacher ; and it is chiefly from this mode of destruction 

 that such incredible numbers are sent to the London market, 

 in defiance to all the severe enactments of the Game Laws. 

 The roosting-place of the male bird is very easy of observa- 

 tion, for he almost invariably chuckles when first he trees, or 

 goes to perch ; and the female usually utters a faint chirp on 

 the same occasion. During summer and the period of moult- 

 ing. I have remarked that the Pheasant rarely perches, but 

 retires for the night to the longest grass, and other thick co- 

 ver, and does not begin to mount again until towards the end 

 of September or the beginning of October, having at that pe- 

 riod renewed its plumage. Where Pheasants are numerous, 

 the males are in general found associated during the winter, 

 and separate from the females ; and it is not until about the 

 end of March that they allow the approach of the latter with- 

 out exhibiting signs of displeasure, or at least of indifference. 

 At the above-mentioned time, the male bird assumes an al- 

 tered appearance ; the scarlet of his cheeks, and around his 

 eyes, acquires additional depth of colour, and he walks with 

 a more measured step, with his wings let down, and with his 

 tail carried in a more erect position. 



Being polygamous, he now takes possession of a certain 

 beat, from whence he drives every male intruder, and com- 

 mences his crowing, attended with a peculiar clapping of the 

 wings, and which answers as the note of invitation to the 

 other sex, as well as of defiance to his own. 



Nest, &c. The female makes a very inartificial nest upon the ground 

 in long grass, or thick underwood, and not unfrequently in 

 fields of clover, and lays from ten to fourteen eggs, of a clear 

 oil-green colour. The young are excluded during the 

 months of June and July, and continue with the hen till 

 they begin to moult, and to assume the adult plumage ; 

 which, commencing about the beginning of September, is 



