DISTRIBUTION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 21 
The distribution of the pheasant over Great Britain and Ireland at the 
present time is very general, it being found in all parts of the kingdom where 
there is congenial shelter and some slight attempt at preservation and protection, 
without which it would soon be extirpated by poachers and its numerous natural 
enemies. 
It is abundant even in the most populous counties, and is not all uncommon 
in the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis. In my own garden, six miles 
from St. Paul’s, a pheasant from the neighbouring woods, where they are preserved, 
will occasionally put in an appearance and feed with the fowls without alarm; but 
it is in the well-wooded and highly preserved districts of England that these birds 
most abound, and where they are excessively numerous. “The pheasant,” writes Mr. 
Sterland, in his “ Birds of Sherwood Forest,’ “abounds on all the estates in the 
forest district, and to such an extent that few would credit the immense numbers. 
They are almost as tame as barndoor fowls, and may be seen on the skirts of the 
various plantations. Carefully tended and fed, and all their natural enemies 
destroyed, they become so accustomed to the presence of man that in many parts 
they will hardly take the trouble to get out of the way, and are scarcely entitled 
to the appellation of wild. Under circumstances so favourable they multiply rapidly, 
but a natural’ limit seems to be set to their increase, and frequently, where they 
are most abundant, large numbers are found dead without apparent cause; these 
are always exceedingly fat and their plumage in the glossiest condition; they seem 
to drop down and die without a struggle. I have had them brought to me in this 
state, and have found their flesh plump and of good colour, and every feather 
smooth and perfect.” I should rather incline to attribute the death ,in these cases 
to apoplexy, arising from over-feeding on maize and stimulating artificial food, 
than to any epidemic disease arising from overcrowding, as this attacks the young 
and destroys them long before they arrive at maturity. 
“In Norfolk,” writes Mr. Stevenson, in his admirable work on the birds of 
that country, “there are many portions where the pheasant exists in a perfectly 
wild state, and thrives well under the protection of the game laws, both soil and 
climate being alike favourable. It is in such districts, almost exclusively, that 
one still meets with the pure Phasianus colchicus, free from any trace of the 
ring-necked or Chinese cross in its plumage, but offering at the same time a poor 
contrast to those hybrid birds both in size and weight. Besides the thick under- 
growth in woods and plantations, pheasants are particularly partial to low damp 
situations, such as alder and osier carrs, by the river side. In this country, also, 
stragglers from some neighbouring coverts are not unfrequently found on the snipe 
marshes surrounding the broads, where the sportsman, following up his dog at a 
‘running point,’ is suddenly startled by the whirr of a noble ‘long-tail,’ when never 
dreaming of any larger game than rails or water-hens.” 
