3S PHEASANTS FOE cnVERTS AND AVI ABIES. 



On the continent of Euro])e the pheasant is widely diffused 

 throughout almost all tlie coiige)iial localities in the south and 

 central jiortions, where any ('rf(n't is made in favour of its pro- 

 tection. In Scandinavia it has been su(;cessfully introduced; 

 in l.SlJT we wei'e informed by Mr. L. Idoyd, in his "Game 

 Bii-ds in Sweden a,nd Norway," that it is not found, although 

 atteiii|its on a large scale were made to intr(.)duce it by the 

 late K'ing Oscar; but fr(jm tlie severity nf the climate, and 

 from the country swarming witli vermin a.ud birds of prey of 

 all sorts, tlie e,\]ieriment, in Mr. Jjloyd's opinion, was not 

 likely to lie attended with success. Since that date the 

 att(_>m])t has been successfully made by j-iaroii Oscar Dickson, 

 who. 111 1873, reared sevi'ii or eight hinidred birds. These 

 have done well, for, in the Ifonjrnlilail of November 10, 1877, 

 it is recorded that "Mr, (now Baron) Oscar Dickson and 

 party shot in one day, on his property, Rokedal, in Sweden, 

 ninety pheasants, one deei-, one hare, and one woodcock. 

 Thei'c were five guns." And the same jonrnal mentions that 

 a brace of pheasants lived at full liberly on an estate in the 

 neighbourhood of I'hristiania during tin- winter of lS7(i-7 

 without being fed or taken care of, and that the\- hatched in 

 ho summer of 1877, and reared ionr fnll-gro^\■u young ones. 

 A lirace more were let loose early in the spring of the same 

 year, and also hatched and reared in the open. The first 

 brace escaped from a pen, and nobody knew what had become 

 of them. It was supposed that they were either frozen to 

 death during the severe winter, had died of starvation, or had 

 fallen an easy jirey to foxes, cats, or hawks. Ihit tliey 

 survived, and found both slielter and food for themselves. 

 Since that date they have increased rapidly, and on Novomlier 

 ]4 and 15, IS!)-'!, the Crown Prince sliot over the Baron's 

 preserves on the Island Wisingsr,, m the Wetter Lakes, 

 when 1518 pheasants were killed liy six guns. 



In New Zeahind, the (ii'eat iiritain of the sonthern 

 hemisphere, the introduction of the pheasant has been a o-reat 

 success; so much so, that in a single season, that of 1871, 



