THE BIRD-LIFE OF LONDON 



some kind, such as plantations and woods with plenty of 

 undergrowth or thick hedges. When such crops as clover, 

 grain, turnips, and so forth are sufficiently matured to 

 afford shelter the bird is very fond of skulking amongst 

 them, but at nightfall it always resorts to a roosting-place 

 amongst the branches. It is a fairly social bird, and in 

 well-stocked covers may be seen in companies feeding 

 and running together. During the pairing season, how- 

 ever, the cocks are quarrelsome and pugnacious, fighting 

 amongst themselves for the hens, but as soon as the eggs 

 are laid this martial spirit dies out and they live in peace 

 together. The Pheasant is wary and watchful when 

 feeding out of cover, either on the fields or the broad 

 drives in the woods, and at the least alarm the cocks 

 usually hurry off at once, running or flying to a place of 

 concealment, but the hens generally crouch flat to the 

 ground, where their brown plumage very effectually 

 shields them. The food of this species consists of grain, 

 peas, beans, tender shoots of clover and other herbage, 

 acorns, beech-mast, berries of many kinds, worms and in- 

 sects, especially ants and their eggs. In places frequented 

 by Pheasants the harsh crow or cor-r-k of the male is 

 heard occasionally through the day, but towards night the 

 crowing becomes almost continuous as the birds retire to 

 roost. In this country the Pheasant is polygamous, but 

 in its native wilds in Western Asia it appears to be mono- 

 gamous. Pairing takes place in March, and the eggs are 

 laid in April and May. The scanty nest, a slight hollow, 

 lined with dead leaves or dry scraps of herbage, is made 

 by the hen, in some quiet, sheltered hedge-bottom or 

 amongst tangled undergrowth in the coverts. The 

 eight to a dozen eggs are usually uniform olive-brown, 

 but sometimes bluish green, one of the latter being seen 

 in a clutch of the ordinary colour. The hen takes sole 

 charge of the brood, but she is not a very careful mother, 

 and seldom succeeds in bringing all the chicks to maturity. 

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