EASTERN CHINESE RING-NECKED PHEASANT 121 



The Ring-necks inhabit three general types of country : first, dense reed-beds along 

 river banks ; secondly, low rolling hills covered with scrub oak, chestnut and pine, or 

 dense grass undergrowth ; and third, the flat paddy fields. 



The reed-beds are regular reed forests, reaching a height of sixteen feet, and while 

 standing, they afford a safe home for the greater number of pheasants in the region. 

 The birds come out to feed about the paddys of rice, wheat or millet which always 

 border the reeds, or feed upon the insects, roots and seeds among the reeds themselves. 

 The seeds come chiefly from the creeping vines which abound on the reeds. 



By the end of January the shelter afforded by these giant annuals has ceased to 

 exist. The reeds have been cut down, stacked, or sent away by sampan or junk as 

 articles of fuel or thatching. When the completion of reed-cutting is approaching, and 

 the vast expanses of " forest " are reduced to workable dimensions, the biggest rises of 

 beaten-out pheasants are obtained by sportsmen. Plenty of guns and beaters are 

 needed, and as many as forty or fifty birds will break cover at one time, not counting 

 odds and ends of pioneer or laggard singles. Until thus reduced by cutting, the reed 

 forests are impossible for driving or shooting. 



The rolling hills, one or two hundred feet high, so characteristic of Eastern China, 

 are either close to the river banks, or standing back from them beyond the padded flats. 

 They are interspersed with small farms, surrounded rarely by a few trees. Small 

 bamboo plantations alternate with tangles of brier or scrub pine. Hardly ever is one 

 out of sight of graves. 



The slopes of the hills are everywhere terraced and cultivated, and here, through all 

 the shooting season, or as long as the undergrowth remains standing, the best hunting 

 is to be had. The pheasants give good high and crossing shots, while in addition, the 

 beaters usually flush woodcock, quail, deer and hares. The pheasants are usually to be 

 found around the lower areas, near the edge of the paddys. 



The paddy flats include not only the actual rice beds, but the flat country where 

 wheat and rape are grown. This is the dominant type of country about the lower 

 Yangtse, and it probably provides the greater percentage of food of the pheasants. After 

 the crops have been cut in the late autumn, the paddys are quite bare and remain so 

 until the new growth appears in the following spring, about the ist of March. But 

 throughout the winter, unless the natives have grubbed the very roots for fuel, there is 

 standing grass on the dividing ridges between the paddys, and even these narrow 

 ribbons of vegetation afford ample cover for a bird with such remarkable powers of 

 concealment as the Chinese Ring-neck. 



In scrub-covered, hilly regions the cocks seek the densest bamboo cover during the 

 heat of the day, while the hens seem rather to choose long grass. This latter choice may 

 result from the grass affording better hiding-places for the young, and perhaps a greater 

 abundance of insects and seeds. 



One of my correspondents tells of finding as many as eight hens with young in a 

 comparatively small patch of grass during a July which was a record hot month in a 

 record hot year. The hens did not go far, but, as they left, called to the young 

 remaining behind in the grass. The young did not rise, but after a period of quiet, 

 several dozen made their way out of the grass and up a little bank into the bamboo scrub 

 where the hens had concealed themselves, and where a number of cocks were resting. 



VOL. Ill j^ 



