78 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



a Russian commander, and thrived well. ■ Later they were almost shot off, then 

 protection was accorded them and at present they are abundant again. 



On the north side of the Great Caucasus, in the neighbourhood of the two chief 

 river-beds, the Terek and the Kuban, pheasants are common in many places. The 

 line from the Kuma to the sea forms the limit of northerly distribution ; appearing 

 first at the village of Obilnoe, close to Georgiewsk, it becomes common at Soldato- 

 Alexandrowsk, and so on to the shore of the Caspian. Pallas, who knew the bird not 

 only by the Russian name of Fasan, but also as Madsharski Petuch, that is, the Cock 

 of Madshar, knew it from that locality. This place, on the left bank of the Kuma, is 

 at present an insignificant settlement. In the time of the Empress Katharin, it was 

 customary to send wine from this region to the court, and as this wine closely resembled 

 Burgundy, the place was called Burgony-Madshari. 



To the westward, pheasants are sporadically common in the lower basin of the 

 Kuban and along the eastern shore of the Black Sea. On the preserves of the Grand- 

 Duke Michail Nicolajewitsch the birds were protected for several years, until their 

 excessive numbers became a constant source of destruction to the crops of grain. 

 Farther south, along the coast, they become scarcer, and seemio be wholly absent from 

 the littoral stretch extending from Adler to the district of Suchum. Pheasants have 

 been reported from the Kuban delta and near Temrjuk. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



Although man is the pheasant's greatest enemy at present, yet there are few 

 moments of the day or night when the birds are quite safe. Even in the darkness, so 

 Radde tells us, when they are roosting in the thin-foliaged trees, the great Caucasian 

 horned owl takes heavy toll of them. During feeding hours the black fox and the jackal 

 stalk the birds among the grass or reeds, and in the air their two chief enemies are the 

 peregrine falcon and the goshawk. The latter is the only bird used in falconry in 

 Trans-Caucasia. When loosed these hawks rarely strike the pheasants while they are 

 in flight, but pursue them until from fear they alight and hide. The goshawk then 

 perches upon some adjacent bush or tree until the hunter comes up with his dog, which 

 soon discovers the hidden bird. Should the pheasant be an old bird it will probably 

 flush a second time, but young birds so dread the waiting bird of prey that they may 

 often be caught in the hand. Sometimes a wild hawk will keep watch on the crouching 

 pheasant and sail about overhead, screaming incessantly ; a telltale for the hunter, who, 

 with the aid of his pointer, flushes the bird and easily secures it. 



The greatest feral enemy of the Caucasian Pheasant is the jungle-cat, which is 

 found in every bit of uncut forest, and whose chief food indeed seems to be these birds. 

 Guns, falconry and the jungle-cat have greatly reduced the number of pheasants, or 

 actually exterminated them throughout large tracts of country. In Tiflis the market 

 price of a brace of birds has already advanced to over two rubles (one dollar), whereas 

 formerly they would have brought only twenty kopeks (ten cents). The systematic 

 hunting in winter on the steppes of the mid-courses of the Terek and the Kuban will 

 undoubtedly soon reduce the bird to the verge of extermination, especially as an 

 unusually severe winter works terrible havoc among them. At Christmas time there 

 regularly arrived, at Tiflis in former times, great German wagons laden down with 



