II] PHEASAXTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



concerned, for wo liave no artificial processes liei'o — selected as 

 tlie site tor lier nest <i. liedt^'e 1)\' a })rivate cart road, wliere slie 

 was ex])(ised ti.i tlie constant ti-affic lA' carts, farm sei'vants, aud 

 otliers, |);i.ssin!4' and repassing her quai'ters, all of which slie 

 t(Hik Willi infinite coni|io.,iire. She was veiy soon discovered 

 on her nest, and actually snffered herself when sitting to Ije 

 stroked down her plniuage by the children and otliers "who 

 visircd her, and this without budging an inch. In fact, she 

 .seemed I'ather to like it. Perhaps she became a pet "with the 

 nei^libours from this unusual docility, and her brood (fourteen 

 in number) was thereby saved; for every egg was hatched, 

 and the young birds have all got safely away." 



Ilafntually a nestcr on the ground, the hen pheasant will 

 >.oinrtimes select the desei-ted nest of a pigt'on or s([uirrel as a 

 ]ilaee for the de]")osition and incuba.tif.iii of her eggs. Several 

 examples of this occurrence are ota record, but the following 

 m;iy suifice to pro\'e that tlie circumstance is uot so infrequent 

 as uKiy have been supposed. ( )iie correspondent writes as 

 toliows: " Uiir hcvul keeper told me that (Uie of his watchers 

 liad found a pheasant's nest up a sjn-uce lir tree. I was 

 incredulous, so I went with him, and had the under-man there 

 to show us. The bird was sitting on the nest — an old scpiirrel's. 

 The man said she had twelve eggs. lie also told us that he 

 knew of a.nother in a siniilar situation in the same plantation. 

 The nest 1 saw was about twelve feet from the ground. The 

 watidiers found it in looking for nests of flying vermin, as 

 some hail escaped the traps." 



Another states : " A keeper on the (.'ullioni estate, when 

 on his rounds in seandi (if vermin, observed a nest, which he 

 UM")k to be that of a hawk, on a Scotch hr tree, about hfteeu 

 feet from the ground. On throwing up a stone out Hew a 

 fine hen pheasant. The keeper then ascended the tree, and 

 found, t(j his astonishment, eight pheasant's eggs in an old 

 owl's nest. lie removed the eggs, and placed them under a 

 lieu, and at (he ex])iration of three days he hail ei^'ht fine 

 lively pheasiint chicks." 



