14 PIJEASANT.S FOR roVEKTS AND AVIARIES. 



<lis]ilay of tlie ]iluiiinge occur in tlie Argus and (Tolden 

 l'liea>aiit and other sjiecies, which wdl be noticed in the 

 cha])ter.s relating to those In'rds. 



In a sta,te of nature there is little doubt that the pheasant 

 is polygamous. The nni.les are armed with spurs, witii which 

 they fight, the stronger driving away the weaker, and the 

 most vigorotis propagate their kind. 



'J'he nest of the female is usually a simple IkjIIow scraped 

 in the ground. After dejjositing her eggs (usually about 

 eight or nine in mrmber) she is deserted by the tnale, and the 

 task of incubation and rearing the young de]iends on her 

 aloue. The eggs vary in colour from a greenish brown to a 

 greyish green ; in size they :tre, on the avertige, an inch and 

 five-sixths in length, by an inch and five-twelfths in width. 

 The period of incubatiiui is twentv-f'>ur days. 



Hen pheasants, like common fowls, not infreipiently liave 

 nests in (■(jmnKin, ii\ which case as many as eighteen (ir 

 twenty eggs will be found tugether. tSometimes three hens 

 will take t(_) the same nest, and as many as thirty etj'gs have 

 been seen resulting from their co-partnership. It is still 

 more singidar that the pheas;iut a.iid the partridge often share 

 the same nest (See ZonlcKji-yf , ISSij, p. 295, in which volume 

 also will be found meutiim of a jjheasant and wild duck sharing 

 the same nest). i\Ir. A\"alter Yate, of Pemberton, Shropshire, 

 stated. " ,\ljuut a week ago one of my workmen informed me 

 that he had found a nest containing both ]iartridge's and 

 ]iheasaut's eggs. I accompanied him to the place, and 

 there saw the pheasant and partridge seated side bv side 

 with the utmost amity. 1 then Inid the birds driven olf, and 

 saw fifteen jiartridge's and sixteen pheasa.nt's eggs laid 

 indiscriminately together. I'lie eggs were placed ;is thouo-h 

 the nest had been common to both." Aiiothrr correspondent 

 writes: "About three weeks ago, "when \\alkiiiL;' round a 

 small wood belonging to me, and in w liicli I nsualh- breed a 

 good sprinkle of |iheasa.uts, .1 discovered a. partridi^-e sittiiU'- 

 on the edge of the bank of the wooil ; aiul when she went off 



