CHAPTER II 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS 

 (CONTINUED). 



NON - DOMESTICITY — INTRODUCTION INTO 

 BRITAIN— DISTRIBUTION. 



J-T 1 S sometimes suggested by persons ignorant of 

 'i tlie true nature of the pheasant, that it might be 

 ?j^^*i domesticated and reared like our ordinary farm- 

 ^W y^-r*! fowl. Such persons are apparently not aware 

 that the instinct of domestication is one of the rarest 



possessed by animals. Man has been for some thou- 

 sands of 3'ears capturing, subduing, and taming hundreds of 

 different species of animals of all classes ; but of these the 

 number that he has succeeded in really domesticating does 

 not amount to fifty. A very large proportion of animals 

 are capable of being tamed, and rendered perfectly familiar 

 with man ; but this is a totally distinct state from one of 

 domestication. The common pheasant is a good example of 

 this distinction. Individual examples may be rendered so 

 taiue as to become even troublesome from their courage and 

 familiarity ; but although others have been bred in aviaries 

 for many generations, their offspring still retain their original 

 W'ilduess, and when let out at large betake themselves to 

 the woods and coverts as soon as able to shift for themselves. 

 On the other hand, the allied species, the jungle fowl {Gallus 

 ferrugineus) , the original of our domestic breeds of poultry, 

 if reared in confinement, becomes immediately domesticated, 



