GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 243 



This habit of roosting upon trees is very fatal to their safety, since, being objects of considerable size, 

 readily distinguishable by their long tails, and not easily frightened from the perch, they offer a sure 

 mark during moonlight nights to the poacher's gun. The roosting-place of the male is very easily 

 discovered, for he invariably chuckles when he first " trees," or goes to perch ; and the female 

 usually chirps on the same occasion. During summer and the period of moulting the Pheasant 

 rarely perches, but retires for the night to the longest grass or other thick cover, and does not begin 

 to "mount" again until towards the end of September or the beginning of October, having at that 

 time renewed its plumage. Where Pheasants are numerous, the males are generally found associated 

 during the winter separate from the females ; and it is not until the end of March that they allow the 

 approach of the latter without signs of displeasure, or at least indifference. At the above-mentioned 

 time, however, the male bird assumes an altered appearance ; the scarlet on his cheeks and around 

 his eyes acquires additional depth of colour, and he walks with a more measured step, with his wing 

 let down, and his tail carried in a more erect position. Being polygamous, he now takes possession 

 of a certain "beat," frorn whence he drives every male intruder, and commences his cromng, which is 

 accompanied by a peculiar clapping of his wings as a note of invitation to the other sex, as well 

 as of defiance to his qwn. The female makes a very inartificial nest upon the ground, in long grass 

 or thick underwood, and not unfrequently in fields of clover ; she lays from ten to fourteen eggs, of a 

 clear yellowish grey-green colqur. The young are hatched during the months of June and July, and 

 continue with the hen until they begin to rnoult and assume the adult plumage ; after this period the 

 young males are only to be distinguished from the older birds by the comparative bluntness and 

 shortness of the tarsal spur. Usually when alarmed the Pheasant escapes by running rapidly, 

 and seldom u^es its wings, except in cases of very pressing danger. 



" An old cock Pheasant," says Mr, Yarrell, " immediately on hearing a dog give tongue in a 

 wood where he is, will fpot away to the farthest corner, particularly if the wood be open at bottom, 

 and from thence run one dry ditch or hedgerow after another for half a mile to the next covert ; but 

 a hen Pheasant seems to trust to her brown colour to escape detection, and, squatting in any bit of 

 long grass that is near her, often surprises and startles the young shooter not a little hj bquncing up 

 with a rattling noise close at his feet. The poor frightened bird is frequently indebted to the 

 sensation thus created for a clear escape. The brown earth-like colour of the plumage of the females 

 of several species of Pheasartts seems to be an admirable provision, not only for their individual safety, 

 but for the preservation of the whole race." 



In a wild state, the Pheasant feeds on grain, seeds, green leaves, and insects ; also on sortie kinds 

 of bulbs and berries. 



THE CHINESE RJNG-NECKED PHEASANT. 



The Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant (F/iasianus torquaius) is even more beautiful than its 

 congeners. In this elegant bird the head and part of the throat are green ; a line over the eyes and a 

 collar about the throat white ; the feathers on the nape almost black near the shaft, with broad yellow 

 borders ; and those on the mantle black at the base, with alternate yellow and black streaks, eacli 

 feather edged with bright red. The long feathers on tlie rump and upper wing-covers are greenish grey, 

 marked and dotted with red ; those on the belly purplish brown, with conical black spots on the shafts, 

 and those on the sides brownish yellow, marked with large round dark spots on the sliafts. The quills 

 are greyish brown, striped with greyish yellow, and secondaries reddish grey ; the tail-feathers are 

 greenish yellow, streaked with black. The eye is yellowish, the wattle on the clieek red, the be.nk 

 light grey, and the foot bro\\Tiish yellow. The size of this species is about that of the Common 

 Pheasant. The hen resembles the female of the latter in her general appearance, but is somewhat 



