CROWING OF COCK PHEASANTS. 187 



first ascends to his roosting place in the evening, 

 and so giving notice of his whereabouts to the 

 attentive poacher would thus be in a great mea- 

 sure neutralized. I speak from personal expe- 

 rience when I say that it is impossible, even with 

 the aid of moonlight, to perceive the form of a 

 pheasant among the upper branches of a fir tree, 

 while on the darkest night I have succeeded in 

 discerning his profile against the sky among the 

 leafless boughs of the oak and the elm. But the 

 habit of crowing, indulged in at all hours of the 

 day during the breeding season, is not restricted 

 to the purposes of love or the hour of rest. The 

 same note is uttered on quitting his perch at 

 early dawn, and the sound of thunder or distant 

 cannon never fails to produce it. How often, 

 though at a distance of thirty miles, have I heard 

 it elicited by the booming of the Portsmouth 

 guns, when the weather was calm, or the wind in 

 a favourable quarter. But the most remarkable 

 instance of this kind that ever came under my 

 notice occurred on the llth of March, 1850. It 

 was a clear sunny day, the air cold and frosty, 

 with a gentle breeze from the north-east. I had 

 been riding through Charlton forest, and had just 

 begun to descend the northern slope of the downs 

 by a rugged path above the village of Graffham, 

 when I was induced to halt for a moment to ad- 



