lO PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AXO AVTIRIES. 



tisniilly a iniiTKi- reflecting tlu' outer landseajie. It is needless 

 to add tlu' bird was killed instantaneously. Two lieu pheasants 

 had on ])revious occasions boon killed in tlie same \va,y, but 

 the e■la^^ was not damaged." Ifr. tl. A. Hackett, of ]-*adtcn 

 House, IJugljy, also wi-ote as iollows : " I wa,s much astonished 

 to-da\', at aljout two o'clock, by hearing a, lond crash of glass 

 ill mv sniokiiig-room, and on going there I found a. cock 

 |)heasant, dead ou the floor close to the window, and the plate 

 (if gl;is.<, which is dft. by dft. din., and |in. thick, in thousands 

 of friigments. 1 am certain no blow from a, man could have 

 in like manner demolished the glass. 'Jdie pheasant was a 

 ring-necki'd, last yea.r's bird, and "weighed nearly dlb." These 

 instances (iccurred in the day-time. iSometimes the birds are 

 attracted by a light, as in tlie following cases: "On a very 

 rough night in -lanmiry, a, hen ])lu'asant flew through the 

 hall window at i\[erthyr ^^lanor, lilridgend, attracted Vjy a 

 light inside." And the following incident is related as 

 occurring m a village md. far from llaiigor, on the banks of a 

 river on the o]ij)osite side of which is a plantation well stocked 

 with phea.sants : " One stf.u-mv night there sat in a rotim of a 

 ^nuill ]iublicj whicli had a window facing the plantation, six 

 or seven men enjoying their pi[ies and beer, wdien all of a 

 sudiU'ii crash went the window, out went the candle, and out 

 i'u.'-IumI the men m great consternation. ()ii exatnining tlie 

 room a splendid cock ])heasa.iit wa,s found under the table." 



The wings, considered w ith nd'erence to the size and 

 weight of the bird, are short and simdl ; from the sect)ndary 

 <piills being nearly as long as the primary, tiiev are very 

 r(junded in fcu'in, the third and fourth primarv feathers being 

 the longest. The wdngs are not a.da,])ted to a. very prolonged 

 flight, although the denizens of the wilder districts in the 

 crinntry fly wdth a speed and cover distances that are un- 

 kuowii to the over-fattened birds in our jireserves. Lon<" 

 flights are, however, not altogether beyond the ])owers of the 

 bird. One of unusual length was recorded by the late 

 Mr. J. Cordeaux, of Ldceby, wdio states that " wdien 



