2 PHEASANTS FOB. COYERTS AM) AVIARIES. 



since Ijeeii described by Mr. H. E. Dresser and tlie Hon. 

 Walter Rothschild. (Srr list at end of Chapter, p. 1^2.) 



Without including, however, such birds as liave, from 

 their rarity or other ca,uses, no jji'actical iiitert'st to English 

 game ]n'eservi'rs, there remain several well-known species 

 that will rec|nire oni- careful consideration. Snch are : Tlie 

 common pheasant [PJin^ianufi roklrieus) , now generally diffused 

 througliout southern and central Europe ; the Chinese 

 (P. foyquittns) ■ the Japanese (P. vi'isii-nlor) ; and Reeves's 

 ]-)heas;int (P. rervesii). 'Chese, however, are so closely related 

 iu structure, form, and habits, t]ia,t their natural history and 

 •_;-eneral maungement may 1)0 given once for all, and their 

 distinctive peculiarities j^ointed out siibseipiently. 



The ]>lieasanta constituting the geuns PJinsiaiiii.s are 

 i-eadily distinguislied by their tail leathers, which are eighteen 

 ill number, the middle ]iair being much the hmgest, and these 

 attain their maximum, development in the lieeves pheasant, 

 re;iching in that species to a length exceeding five or six feet. 

 They aa'e all destitjUte of feathered crests or tleshy combs, ])ut 

 are furnished with small tufts of feathers behind the eyes. 

 In their native state they are essentially forest birds, fre- 

 ([ueiitiiig the miirgins of wood, coming- inti) the (i]ien tracts 

 in search df fo(jd, and retreating into the thick iindei'W(_»od at 

 the slightest cause for alarm. The common pheasant, which 

 has been intr'jdaced from its native country, Asia Minor, for 

 u])wards (j£ a thousand years, though s]iread over the o-reater 

 ]iart of I'aii-ope, and more recently introduced into North 

 America, Australia, and New Zealand, still retains its 

 t^rimitive haljits. 



" It is," says Naumann, in his work on the "Birds <.if 

 Germany," " certainly a forest bird, but not in the truest 

 seuse of the term; for neither does it inhabit the denselv 

 wooded districts, nor the depths of the mixed forest, unless 

 di'iven to do so. Small pieces of grove, where deep under- 

 bush anil high grass grow l.ietween the ti'ees, where thoiii 

 hedges, l)erry-growiug bushes, and \vatei' overm'own with 



