136 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



his single or several hens and the broods of young birds, but I do not know of the cocks 

 taking any part in actually feeding or sheltering the young. 



I have already mentioned the stringent game-laws of former times. At present, with 

 the increasing individualization and lawlessness of the people, enforcement of these laws 

 is becoming more and more difficult. At present pheasants can legally be killed only 

 from the ist of November to the last day of February. In out-of-the-way districts they are 

 shot every month in the year, and the female is often killed while sitting on her eggs. 

 The greatest defect in the game-law of Japan lies in the fact that no private person is 

 permitted to have game-preserves. The Emperor alone has this privilege, the result 

 being that as soon as the season opens licensed gunners overrun the country, shooting 

 where they please. 



Japan is a land of frequent earthquakes, and it seems to be a thoroughly 

 authenticated fact that some time in advance of a shock all the pheasants of a district 

 will call loudly, and in a manner so unlike the usual rather isolated crowing, that the 

 natives can always recognize it as a warning. The preliminary earth tremors, much too 

 delicate for perception by our human senses, are detected and reacted to by the 

 pheasants, just as the coarser stimuli of thunder or the noise of guns will excite 

 pheasants of other kinds to continued vocal utterance. 



As the first account of its kind, the description given by Mr. Heine of Perry's 

 expedition is of considerable interest. He says: "After the treaty of Yokohama had 

 been concluded the United States squadron proceeded to Simoda. A friendly inter- 

 course with the natives was established, and I constantly availed myself of Commodore 

 Perry's kind permission to make additions to our collections in natural history. One 

 morning, at dawn of day, I shouldered my gun and landed in search of specimens of 

 birds, and that day had the good fortune to see, for the first time, the versicolor 

 pheasant. The province Idza, at the southern extremity of which the port of Simoda is 

 situated, forms a long neck of land extending from the island of Niphon, in a southerly 

 direction, and is throughout mountainous, some of the mountains being from four 

 thousand to five thousand feet high. The valleys are highly cultivated, presenting in 

 the spring a most luxurious landscape. The tops of the mountains and hills are in 

 some places composed of barren rocks, and in others covered with grass and shrubs, 

 producing an abundance of small berries. Between those higher regions and the fields 

 below, the slopes are covered with woods, having, for the greater part, such thick 

 undergrowth that it is scarcely possible to penetrate them. Following the beautiful 

 valley, at the outlet of which the town of Simoda stands, for about four miles, I came to 

 a place where the Simoda creek divides into two branches. Selecting the eastern 

 branch, I soon left fields and houses behind me, and, ascending through a little gulley, 

 I emerged from the woods into the barren region. It was yet early in the morning; 

 clouds enveloped the peaks and tops of the hills ; the fields and woods were silent, and 

 the distant sound of the surf from the seashore far below, rather increased than lessened 

 the impression of deep solitude made upon me by the strange scenery around. 



"The walk and ascent had fatigued me somewhat; I had laid down my gun and 

 game-bag, and was just stopping to drink from a little spring that trickled from a rock, 

 when, not ten yards from me, a large pheasant arose with loud rustling noise, and 

 before I had recovered my gun, he had disappeared over the brow of a hill. I felt 



