BEEVES^S PHEASANT. ID;] 



being considerably more thnn fifty. The central pair are 

 commonly oft. in length. 



A very interesting observation was made by the late 11 r. 

 l")lytli on the voice of tins s]")ecies. He states : " I have 

 heai'(] the call-note of Keeves's pheasant, and it was some 

 time before 1 could satisfv myself that it actually' pmceeded 

 fi'om such a bird. It is like the simple sung of some small 

 passerine liii'd, delivered in as high a key as the song of the 

 iiedge s]iarrow (Accfjitur ■»/(»/;(/i7r/.s-), one of which happened 

 to be singing at the same time. A repetition of the satne note 

 seven or eight times over, <(uite musical, but not loud, being as 

 unlike what would be expected from such a bird as a pheasant, 

 as the voices of sundry Gohiiiilnibv ai-e utterly different from 

 wliat woidd have been expected to proceed from pigeons and 

 doves.'' 



The late Mr. J. J. JStone, to whom naturalists ari' so nmch 

 indelited for his introduction of this and other splendid 

 ])heasants, was of opinion that the \-alue of Reeves's pheasant 

 in this countiy rests mainly iip(jn its sizi' and strength of 

 Hight, niakiug it the prince of gaine birds iov our woods. Ju 

 a. coiiiniiinicati(.)n to me on the subject, he wrote : " The point 

 1 aim at is to induce the large landed jiroprietors and game 

 i)reservei's to introduce the Reeves's jtheasaut into their 

 coverts, believing that it will (from its wild character) afford 

 the Ijcst s]iorfc of all the pheasants, and from its si/.e and the 

 luagniiiceuce of its plumage it must be a desirable addition to 

 cuir list of game birds. I wa.nt to see Iteeves's pheasant 

 common on the dinner table; and there is no reason why it 

 should not be so in a few years, seeing that it is now being 

 bred freely m fjelgium, anil may lie ]iui'chased there at about 

 the price which the A'ersicolor still ccunmauds, though nmch 

 longer introduced into Phirope." Since Mr. .Stone's death 

 sevei-al successful attempts have been made to introduce this 

 most noble of all the true pheasants into our coverts. 



Lord lulford, writing in ]\Iarch, ISSl, gave mo the follow- 

 in"- information: "1 have kept several in pens, and found 



o 



