STRUCTURE. FOOD. AND HABITS. 10 



next diiv, and the youno- birds are now doing well." Other 

 cases of cock pheasants incubating were recorded in Tin' Fichl 

 of .lidy 5 and lU, lH9:i. 



Pheasants usually commence to lay in this country in 

 April or May, the date varying somewhat with the season and 

 the latitude. Tiie eggs of penned birds have been iound in 

 the first week of April, and even in the last week of j\Iarch (see 

 The Fii'Id, April 13, 19(»1). In consequence of the artificial 

 state in which th.ey are kept in prciserves, and the su]ier- 

 abundance of food with whicli they are supplied, the produc- 

 tion of eggs, as in domesticated fowls, often takes ])lace at 

 most, irregular periods. Many instances are recorded of 

 perfect eggs being found in the oviducts of ])heasants shot 

 during the montlis of December and January. For example. 

 Sir D. W Legard, writing from (lanton, Yorkshire, on 

 December 27, 18G4., sa<id . " At the conclusion of ;i, (hiy's 

 covert shooting last Tuesday, a liea pheasant, whicli ha.d been 

 killed, was discovered by a keeper to have a lump of some 

 hard substance in her ; he opened her in my presence, when, 

 to my astonishment, he extracted an egg perfectly formed, 

 shelled, and ajDparently ready to be laid ; it was of the usual 

 size, bat the colour, insteatl of being olive, was a greyish- 

 white." 



A nest c(.intaiuing an egg has been noticed as early 

 as March 1-, and many cases are recorded of strong 

 nests of young during the first few days of May. Lord 

 Warwick's keeper, J. Edwards, in May, 1SG8, wroti^ as 

 follows : " Yesterday (the (ith inst.), whilst searching for 

 pheasant eggs in (Irayfield Wood, I came ujiou a ne^t of 

 thirteen phea^sam eggs, twelve just hatched and run, and one 

 left cheeping in the shed. The bird must have begun to lay 

 in the middle of ilarch, as they sit twenty-tivc days, and 

 do not very often lay cuily every other day, at least at the 

 connneiicement." Uther eases earlier by three or four da3's 

 than this instance have been recorded. Tlie late lie^". (1. C. 

 Green, of Modbury, Devon, wrote : " On bunday, April 18, 



