THE OOLOGIST, 



174 



T had been tramping all clay trout fish- 

 ing and in the afternoon to reach the 

 station, to take the train for home, I 

 .took a short cut over the hills. 



Walking along the side of a steep 

 rocky slope I placed my toot upon a 

 fallen tree as T passed, and the shaking 

 of it caused a Pheasant to flush from 

 beneath a rock, across which the tree 

 was resting. As far as I could watch 

 it, it flew for about one hundred yards 

 diagonally up the hill. I have often 

 read, and heard it stated that this bird 

 will cover its nest with leaves when 

 leaving it, but such was not the case 

 here. Possibly there was no time to do 

 so, as the bird could not see me, and 

 was only flushed by the shaking of the 

 tree. 



The nest was a hollow about 2^x6 

 inches, scratched in the ground on the 

 south side of the hill, and beneath the 

 shelter of the overhanging rock. This 

 formed a roof of about fifteen inches in 

 height, sheltering it from the weather, 

 and entirely hidiog it from the view <yf 

 anybody passing above, but to a person 

 coming up the hill it was fully exposed 

 to sight. The lining was of dead oak 

 and chestnut leaves, intermixed with 

 a few feathers from the breast of the 

 setting bird. The eggs, ten in number, 

 were not spread out in the nest, but 

 were all in a heap, and looked as if 

 they had been dumped together into 

 the nest. 



Incubation was fresh, the eggs meas- 

 uring respectively, in inches, 1.70x1.17, 

 1.69x1.18, 1.67x1.12, 1.62x1.17, 1.61x1.19, 

 1.60x1.17, 1.60x1.15, 1.59x1.18, 1.59x1.15, 

 1.56x1.18; ground colorthe usual cream, 

 all being more or less speckled with 

 small red and lilac markings. 



'Tor her second laying, when the first 

 has been destroyed, the female some- 

 times takes possession of abandoned 

 nests, in trees or the tops of stubs, re- 

 moving her young to the gi-ound in her 

 bill. This is of rare occurence." (C. 

 A. Cooper, in "Shooting on Upland, 



Marsh, and Stream"). E. A. Samuels, 

 in "Our Northern and Eastei-n Birds,' 

 says about the same thing, and states 

 that his collectors have taken their eggs 

 from old Crows' nests on several oc- 

 casions. 



Pheasants pair in the spring, about 

 the end of March, or the first of April. 

 It is during this season that you gener- 

 ally hear their "drumming," but on 

 several occoasions, I have heard it in 

 November. This sound s:ems to pos- 

 sess ventriloquil powers, and it is ex- 

 ceedingly diflicult to locate the bird by 

 it. If a person will place the end of a 

 finger on the lobe covering the opening 

 of the ear, and work it rapidly, they 

 will obtain a very fair representation 

 of this "drumming" sound. 



Frequently in walking through the 

 woods you will pass a Pheasant. It will 

 remain perfectly still and quiet until 

 you are about ten feet beyond, then it 

 rises with a whirr and is frequently out 

 of sight before you can turn around. 



Sometimes they are hunted with cur 

 dogs that flush them, and by barking 

 drive them to the trees. By many per- 

 sons it is believed that if a covey is 

 found in the trees, they can all be "bag- 

 ged" by shooting them in turn, begin- 

 ning at the bottom. I have never seen 

 it tried. 



I have found no large coveys in this 

 part of the state, most of the birds 

 flushed being singles, the greatest num- 

 ber I have put up together being four. 

 In the mountainous parts of the coun- 

 try, where they are more plentiful, 1 

 have seen much larger coveys. 



They generally confine themselves to 

 the woods, being especially fond of hill- 

 sides thickly covered with laurel [Kal- 

 mialatijolia). Warren, in "Birds of 

 Pennsylvania," says; "I have observed 

 when hunting them in the fall that they 

 often leave the woods, and ai-e found 

 feeding abouc the edges of the fields, 

 along the borders of woods or thickets." 

 Again, Frank Schley, in American Part 



