PHEASANT 265 



Its habits appear curiously persistent : it must have wood, dense 

 cover, and water in abundance to thrive. In Britain, where it has 

 been permitted to run free in the woods for the last sixteen or 

 seventeen centuries, it is still scarcely able to maintain its existence 

 without the strictest protection and a great deal of attention on the 

 part of man. It is known that when the birds are left to shift for 

 themselves they soon decrease in numbers, and eventually die out, 

 except in a few rare cases where the conditions are extremely 

 favourable. How heavy the cost is of keeping pheasants in numbers 

 sufficient for the purposes of sport is well known to all those who 

 have preserves. 



An interesting fact about the pheasant is, that the various species 

 forming the group to which our bird belongs freely interbreed when 

 they come together, and produce hybrids which are fertile. A 

 Chinese species, the ring-necked pheasant, which is a little smaller 

 than the British bird, was introduced into this country at the end 

 of the last century, and everywhere the two species have interbred 

 so freely that it is now scarcely possible to find a bird which does 

 not show traces of hybridism. 



An account of the habits of the pheasant would be superfluous 

 here, as this bird, in the nearly semi-domestic state in which it exists 

 throughout the country, is as familiar to most persons as the fowl. 



Red-legged Partridge. 

 Caccabis rufa. 



Throat and cheeks white, surrounded by a black band, which 

 spreads itself out over the breast and sides of the neck in the form 

 of numerous spots and lines, with which are intermixed a few white 

 spots ; upper parts reddish ash ; on the flanks a number of crescent- 

 shaped spots ; the convexity towards the tail rust-red ; the centre 

 black bordered by white ; beak, orbits, and feet bright red. Length, 

 thirteen and a half inches. 



The red-legged partridge, or French partridge, as it is often 

 called, is, like the pheasant, a naturalised species, introduced by 

 man ; but its history as a British bird is comparatively a short one. 

 and devoid of romance. A first attempt to naturalise it was made 

 in the reign of Charles II., but was not successful ; on its reintro- 

 duction. about a hundred and twenty years ago, it proved well able 



