168 NOTE ox THK BAE-TAILED PHEASANT. 



VIII. — Xote on the Bar-tailed Pheasant {Phasianus Reevesii, Gray). 

 By the Right Honourable the Eari. of Ravenswoeth. 



These heautiful Pheasants were presented to the Earl of Ravens- 

 worth in a perfectly fresh state by 8ir Dudley Marjoribanks, M.P., 

 by whose care the species has been introduced from Pekin (China) 

 into the Scottish Highlands, Inverness-shire, where they are now 

 naturalized in a wild state. The leading points of this memoir 

 are furnished by the Honourable Baronet. It appears that the first 

 pair of these birds were received by Sir Dudley from Pekin in the 

 year 1870, from which date broods have been reared at Guisachen, 

 and some fresh blood has been introduced by the acquisition of 

 two brace of male birds from the Zoological Garden of Antwerp. 



The Bar-tail is a true Pheasant well able to take care of himself 

 in any climate at any altitudes, and is more easily reared than 

 the common species. He is very shy and wild, difficult to ap- 

 proach, and taking to his legs long before other Pheasants are 

 conscious of any danger. His flight is prodigiously rapid and 

 straight, and he will travel thirty miles on end, which of course 

 is an objectionable practice except in such extensive forest 

 grounds as the Highlands of Scotland present. These Pheasants 

 travel in troops of fifteen or twenty, and present a grand and 

 bewildering effect when they rise in such a company. ^\jiy at- 

 tempt to walk up to these birds in brush covert is utterly hope- 

 less, for they are exceedingly vigilant and go straight off like a 

 dart, not more than six feet above the ground, fiu' out of reach. 



A fight between two old cocks is a beautiful exhibition of 

 actiN^ity and spirit. They spring up five or six feet in the air 

 l)efore striking, and such is their agility that the bird assailed 

 liardly ever allows himself to be struck : so much the better for 

 him, for it will be observ'ed that the legs are garnished with 

 spurs as long and sharp as those of a Game Cock. 



The last peculiarity of this species worth naming is, that 

 when they set out on a jaunt, they make for the highest point 

 within range, whereas the Common Plieasant is accustomed to 

 travel downwards along the course of the valleys. 



Such is the summar}' of Sir Dudley Marjoribank's observatiuus. 



