CHAPTER II 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 



ALL the five green -headed pheasants 

 whose blood may be traced in the hybrid 

 bird of our coverts have to all intents 

 and purposes the same life-history ; their 

 means and methods of carrying on the 

 business of existence differ in no par- 

 ticular of practical import, and so, in these 

 rough notes, all the parent stocks and 

 their numerous but nameless offspring 

 may be included under the simple title of 

 ' the pheasant.' 



The pheasant then is naturally a bird 

 of the valley, a dweller in underwood and 

 thicket on the lower slopes of the hills, or 

 in reedbed and rough growth along the 

 water's edge. Disturbed on some excur- 

 sion, the pheasant makes homewards, and 



33 3 



