310 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



gathered from the following anecdote of a great 

 game-preserver,, who having a great shooting party, 

 and not finding as many Pheasants as he expected, 

 used some very strong language to. his keeper, and 

 told him to go at once to some covert where the 

 great head of game were supposed to be, till at last 

 the keeper could stand it no longer, and said to his 

 master, " You know, sir, as well as I do, it's no use 

 going there yet; the train isn't in and the birds 

 haven't arrived." 



The Pheasant has now a very wide geographical 

 range, as it has been imported into Australia, where 

 it appears to flourish and to have attained to con- 

 siderable numbers.* 



The natural food of the Pheasant consists of grain 

 of all sorts, seeds of various plants, berries, worms 

 and grubs, and (especially for the young birds) ants 

 and ants' eggs. Various artificial foods are adver- 

 tised and said, all of which profess to be more or less 

 certain specifics against gapes and all other diseases 

 to which the young birds are liable ; but any account 

 of these or their relative value does not appear to me 

 to come within the limits of these notes. 



The nest of the Pheasant is generally a mere hole 

 scraped in the ground, under cover of some low bush 

 or long grass, or standing corn. 



The Pheasant is too well known, and too easily 



* See ' Zoologist' for 1863, p. 8493. 



