PHASIANID^. 263 



Bradstone in the extreme western portion of Devon, in a letter on the 

 Birds of Dartmoor, written abont 1832, published in Bra5f's ' Tamar and 

 Tavy' (vol. i. p. 351, 1844), says "the Pheasant has been introduced 

 of late years by the Duke of Bedford and Sir W. P. Call. The ringed- 

 neck variety is the most common." Dr. Thos. Shapter, in his ' Climate of 

 the South of Devon,' 1842, states that the Pheasant was, he believed, 

 introduced into the county only about sixty years before he wrote. This 

 probably applied to P. torquatus, as the beginning of the present century 

 was about the period of its introduction into this countrj'. The common 

 Pheasant, however, has been proved to have been of ancient importation 

 into England, and it was sufficiently abundant in the neighbourhood of 

 London to be recognized as a regular article of diet in the middle of the 

 ].lth century. The Ilomans certainly introduced the Fallow Deer, very 

 probably the E,abbit, and, perhaps, the Pheasant also. It is an interesting 

 fact that the metatarsal of a Gallinaceous bird, either a Domestic Cock 

 or a Pheasant, was found amongst the bones deposited in the ancient 

 camp on the summit of Peak Hill near Sidmouth, and a similar specimen 

 is in the A. M. ^L. from the Bench Cavern, near Brixham. 



The Pheasant, the most beautiful of our game birds, has now been for 

 so many hundred years established in our woodlands that it may almost 

 rank among our indigenous avifauna, although, as its name indicates, it 

 was originally imported into Europe and this country from the banks of 

 the Asiatic Phasis. So greatly have its numbers increased of late years, 

 o\Adng to its careful preservation, that it now forms a valuable and 

 important addition to our food supply. Several varieties of the Pheasant 

 from China and Japan have been introduced into our preserves, some even 

 surpassing the old red bird in beauty of plumage, but all of them possess 

 an undesirable qualification in l)eing addicted to straying off beyond their 

 proper bounds. The beautiful Cliinese King-necked Pheasant (F, tor- 

 quatus), brought over to this country now nearly a hundred years ago, 

 has almost established itself throughout the kingdom, and by interbreeding 

 with the lied Pheasant, and by proving itself to be the dominant species, 

 is— and we consider this a circumstance to be greatly deplored — fast 

 obliterating the handsome Pheasant which for so long had sole possession 

 of our covers. Some forty years ago all the wild-bred Pheasants in the 

 woods we were acquainted with in North Devon belonged to the red species, 

 but we imagine that at the present time an iufusion of the liing-necked 

 strain has extended into all parts of the eountj', and pure, unmixed, 

 descendants of the ancient stock are yearly becoming more rare. Although 

 Pheasants require careful watching, no other bird possessing a greater 

 variety of enemies ; yet birds of tho lied and liing-neckcd species will 

 thrive very well if left to themselves, rearing stronger broods than any 

 the keepers can bring up under coops. In rough parts of the country, 

 where there are a nunilicr of stiff furze brakes, it is almost impossible to 

 exterminate the Pheasant, as he finds shelter from whicli lie cannot be 

 dislodged, and plenty of Kuital)le food. In such districts, about ('hristnias- 

 time, we have shot grand cock birds, of full}' 4 lbs. weight, Avliose flavour 

 greatly surpassed that of the overfatteucd birds of the preserves. There is 



