STRUCTURE. FOOD. AND HAIUT8. 



noxious insects wliicli it devours, to say nothing' of its likinp; 

 For the roots ol' various weeds; hut it woukl he aJjsurd to 

 deny that gram forms its favourite food, and a field of 

 -standing' l]eans will, as is well known, draw ])lieasants loi' 

 miles. It is very nuieh tlie fasliion to feed the birds witli 

 maize; Imt, in our own opinion, tlie flesh of pheasants wliicli 

 ha.vi! lieen principally fed upon tfiis corn is very far inferior in 

 flavour to tbat of those who luive fijund their own living 

 upon wind the land may olfer them." 



Ijike their allies, tlie domestic fowls, plieasants are ocea- 

 sionally carnivoi'ous in their a,ppetite. A correspondent 

 writes: " 'Idiis morning ni}' keeper lirouglif mo a pied cock 

 pheasant, found ilead (hut still warm) in some standing harley. 

 Tile l)ird was in the finest condition, and showed no marks 

 wdiatever, when plucked, of a violent deatlj. (.)n searching 

 the gullet I extracted a short-tailed field mouse, which had 

 (i(.)ul)tless caused death by strangulation." iXnd a similar 

 instance was recorded by Mr. Hutton, of Xorthallerfon. The 

 J [on. a,iid Jlev. C. Bathurst, in a. letter piililishe(l in Lundini's 

 Maijdzinc i>f Nuturnl Jlixfory, vol. ii., p. !•'>•'), relates that Sir 

 -lohn (_)gilvy sa-w a jiheasant flying off with a common slow- 

 worm {Aiujids fnigilis) ; that this reptile does sometimes form 

 ]iart <.)f the food of the pheasant is confirmed by ]\lr. J. E. 

 Hurting, who recounts in his work on "The Birds of Middle- 

 sex," that "ou exaniiuing the crop of a pied pheasant, shot in 

 October, l.S(;4, \ was surjirised to find in it a common slow- 

 worm [AiiijH'i.s fraijiU^) whieli measured eight inches in length. 

 It was not quite perfect, having lost the tip of the tail ; 

 otherwise, if whole, it would probably liave measured nine 

 inches. 



In October, 1888, Mr. J. B. Kootner, of Tunbridge Wells, 

 forwarded to me three young vipers that were found with 

 Ave others of eipial size in the crop of a three parts grown 

 hen ])heasant, which he himself shot as a wild liird. Their 

 length was slightly in excess of 7iii., and the weight of the 

 largest was exactly \oy.. They were evidently young of the 



