THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 207 



in Thompson's " Natural History of Ireland." Mr. Sinclaire 

 writes : — 



" Golden Pheasants are very easily reared in confinement, 

 and are quite as hardy as any of the other pheasants, or as 

 any of our domestic fowls ; indeed, I question if any of them 

 are sooner able to provide a subsistence for themselves, or to 

 Jive independent of the parent bird. In the several years' 

 experience I have had in the rearing of these birds, I have 

 considered them past all danger when they arrived at the age 

 of three or four weeks; in fact, at that age those which I 

 brought up in the garden began to leave the bantam hen 

 which hatched them and take to the gooseberry bushes to 

 perch at night, and very soon after to the apple trees. I 

 always observed that the}- roosted at the extremity of the 

 branches, where they were quite safe from the attacks of cats 

 or other vermin. This habit, together with their very early 

 disposition to roost at night, leads me to infer that their 

 introduction into this country as a game bird would not be 

 diflBcult; and that in our large demesnes, where protected 

 from shooters, they would become very numerous. But I 

 should imagine that they would not answer where the 

 common pheasants were already introduced, as they are shy, 

 timid birds, and would be easily driven off by the other 

 species. The individuals before referred to, which were 

 reared in the garden, consisted of a family of six; they 

 always remained in the garden, where they were regularly 

 fed, except at the commencement of winter, when they ceased 

 roosting in the apple trees, took to a belt of Scotch firs which 

 bounded the garden on one side, and roosted in them all the 

 winter and following spring. I have seen them sitting in the 

 trees when the branches were laden with snow, but they did 

 not seem to suffer in the slightest degree from the severity of 

 winter. About the month of February they first began to 

 wander from the garden for short distances, and as the 

 spring advanced, finally disappeared, and I never could hear 

 of their beinjx met with afterwards. 



