i66 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



and there with no such methodical sequence between them as we observed in the 

 impeyan and the cheer. 



These birds roost in trees, usually in pines, even where maples and oaks are 

 abundant. The roosting branches used respectively by a solitary male and by three 

 females or young birds were not more than fifteen feet above the ground, in trees 

 growing on steep slopes. 



I observed no association with mammals or with small birds, as is so common a 

 habit with other pheasants. The very places which serve as shelters for the Copper 

 Pheasants are also tenanted by foxes and weasels, and the very limited areas affording 

 such shelter well accounts for the great timidity of these birds. They must, indeed, ever 

 be on the watch to evade the attacks of their four-footed, and as I had good evidence in 

 Kiusiu, of their winged enemies. The half-wild house cats probably do not work such 

 havoc among these lovers of higher regions as among the green pheasants. 



Even when warned well in advance of danger, the hens are not as habitual squatters 

 as we should expect from their dull mottled plumage. The males are off at once, 

 running with great rapidity or flying headlong. The females squat for a moment, then 

 run a short distance, then squat until they gain the dense shelter of bamboos or other 

 vegetation. 



HOME LIFE 



The Scintillating Copper Pheasant varies considerably in the date of nesting, the 

 eggs being deposited much earlier in the year in the more sheltered warmer parts of 

 southern Honda. In the latitude of Tokyo the birds nest about April, the hens usually 

 beginning to sit by the middle of the month. 



Seven to thirteen eggs are deposited in a hollow in the ground, with lining 

 composed only of what leaves or moss happened to be in the depression. The nests are 

 invariably placed close to the base of a tree, a pine in all the cases which have come 

 under my observation. Seven seems to be a rather usual number of eggs, for in five 

 instances in captivity, two in my own experience, and three recorded in the " Bulletin de 

 la Societe Acclimatation," a hen Copper Pheasant laid fourteen eggs in groups of seven 

 in two, and in one case in three consecutive years. The three nests of wild birds with 

 completed sets which I have found, or have been taken by Japanese, contained nine, ten, 

 and thirteen eggs respectively. The eggs are uniformly cream-coloured, and measure 

 from 30 to 39 mm. in breadth by 46 to 49 in length. 



I saw no fighting among wild birds, but Copper Pheasant cocks in captivity have 

 most unenviable reputation for pugnacity, attacking and killing not only cock birds of 

 their own and of other species, but even the hens. The particularly nervous and wary 

 character of these pheasants probably accounts for this. Their spurs are stout, but not 

 of great length, and it is difficult to believe that they indulge in battles of nearly so 

 savage a character as those of the firebacks. 



What evidence we have in captivity points to a decided polygamy, but from what I 

 have seen and heard of the pheasants in a wild state, I believe they are as often 

 monogamous as polygamous. 



The incubation lasts about twenty-four days, and the chicks are strong and can run 

 with considerable speed a few hours after hatching. As soon as they can move readily 



