INTROnUGTION INTO BRITAIN. 



obhgiug'ly iiitoriia'd luu that, since its iiiti-iidiictioii twelve ur 

 fifteen years ago, it lias Ijecome fairly established, altlmusj-h it 

 has not increased to the extent that might have been expected 

 in a more favoural)le locality. ' The deep drains in tlie peat 

 moss,' writes Sir James, ' are supposed to be the ctiuse of the 

 death of the young chicks by their falling inld them. For 

 some years at first there was a want of covert for pheasants, 

 but they are now better off in this respect, and are increasing 

 graduafly. Some (jf the first brood wandered about sixteen 

 miles to the west side of the island, it is sujiposed in quest of 

 covert.' " 



The iutroduction of the pheasant intu the northern 

 districts of Scotland is, however, of comparatively recent 

 date, for in the sixth edition of Mowbray^s " Domestic 

 Poultry," 1830, It is stated: "In 1 8-:0, a solitary cock 

 ]3heasant made liis apjpearance as far iKH'th as a valley of 

 the Grampians, being the first that had been seen in that 

 northern region"; a.nd my old friend, Andrew Halliday, told 

 me that he rememljered perfectly the iutroduction of these 

 bircLs into the coverts near Banff belonging t(j the Earl of 

 Fife, in which locality, Thomas Edwards, the Scottish 

 naturalist, whose life has been so graphically written by Mr. 

 Smiles, tells ns it now seems to thrive very well, and is a 

 beautiful ornament to jiarks and W(jods. 



Messrs. Buckley and .1 larvie-Bi'owu, in the " Fauna of the 

 Orkney Islambs," relate several unsuccessful attempts to in- 

 troduce pheasants as wild birds into Orkney, which was only 

 to be expected, as tliert^ are no trees. 



In Ireland it is also abundant, the coiinnini s|:)ecies being, 

 according to ilr. Thompson, the well-known natural historian 

 of the island, frequent in the various woodi'd parts, at least 

 where it has been ]u-(jtected and preserved. " In the counties 

 of Antrim and Down," remarks this writer, "' the ring-necked 

 varietj' — considered to have originally })roceeded Ironi a, cross 

 between the comnnin and true rmg-uecked ])heasant (P. 

 tor<[uatus) — is not uncommon." 



