58 PHEASANTS 



chick at her feet more than outweighing 

 any faint misgivings as to many missing 

 brothers and sisters. 



So liable to lapses of memory indeed 

 is this absent-minded creature, that if 

 alarmed suddenly and flushed when with 

 her young, she seems often to forget the 

 family altogether, and omit the customary 

 formality of coming back to see how they 

 have fared when the danger is past. 



In justice to the pheasant, however, it 

 must be remembered that many genera- 

 tions of hand rearing cannot fail to have 

 blunted the edge of maternal instinct, and 

 there can be very few pheasants now of 

 true wild descent; and further that the 

 chick is a regular pickle to look after, 

 singularly active, enterprising, inquisitive, 

 and impatient of any restraint a marked 

 contrast to the sober, well-behaved little 

 partridge. 



At the same time it should not be 

 forgotten that where the country suits 

 them, the annual yield of wild pheasants 

 over a period of years is always a 



