INTBODUCTION INTO SCOTLAND. 35 



almost exclusively^ that one still meets witli the pure 

 Phasianus colchicus free from any trace of the ring-necked 

 or Chinese cross in its plumage, but offering at the same time 

 a poor contrast to those hybrid birds both in size and weight. 

 Besides the thick undergrowth in woods and plantations, 

 pheasants are particularly partial to low damp situations, 

 such as alder and osier carrs, by the river side. In this 

 country, also, stragglers from some neighbouring coverts are 

 not unfrequently found on the snipe marshes surrounding the 

 broads, where the sportsman, following up his dog at a 

 ' running point,^ is suddenly startled by the whirr of a noble 

 ' long tail,' when never dreaming of any larger game than 

 rails or water-hens." 



In Scotland it is now very generally distributed in 

 the western counties, from Wigtown in the south to 

 Sutherland in the north. Mr. R. Gray writes : " In the 

 neighbourhood of Loch Lomond, it may occasionally be 

 noticed on the mountain sides, at a considerable elevation, 

 sometimes as far up as twelve hundred feet. In Shemore 

 Glen, I have seen male birds rise from the heath among the 

 rocks, and, wheeling round, direct their flight down the 

 valley with extraordinary speed. Very different indeed is the 

 flight of these strong-winged natives of the glen from 

 that of over-fed birds in wooded preserves ; and as one 

 bird after another shoots past in high air^ one can hardly 

 resist the impression that, if left to its own selection, the 

 pheasant would adapt itself wonderfully to the drawbacks of 

 its adopted country. Mr. Blwes informs me that he has 

 frequently seen pheasants in Islay get up in the most unlikely 

 places, such as an open moor, miles away from any covert or 

 corn-field, and sometimes in a wet bog, where one would be 

 more likely to find a snipe. On that island, where it was 

 introduced about thirty years ago by Mr. Campbell, the 

 pheasant is now not uncommon, and appears to be on the 

 increase. In the Outer Hebrides it has likewise been 

 introduced into Lewis by Sir James Matheson, who has 



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