120 BRITISH BIRDS EGGS. 
Famity PHASIANIDZA. 
PHEASANT. 
PHasIANus coLcHicus, Linn. 
Pl. XVIIL, fig. 1. 
Geogr. distr.—Temperate Europe generally; acclimatized and 
preserved in Great Britain. 
Food.—Berries, seeds, especially cereals, oak-spangles, acorns, 
insects, Mollusca, worms. 
Nest.—A mere depression scratched in the ground, and lined with 
roots, leaves, and dried grasses; rarely the deserted nest of an Owl is 
taken possession of. 
Position of nest.—In long grasses, fern, or undergrowth, in woods, 
groves, or plantations, under hedge-rows or in open fields: it has 
been found at a height from the ground on the top of a stack or in an 
old Squirrel’s drey. 
Number of eggs.—8-14. 
Time of nidification.—IV-VI ; occasionally later. 
The pheasant is fond of the larve of Tipula, known to 
gardeners by the popular name of “niggers,” and, accord- 
ing to Mr. Seebohm, ‘it consumes enormous quantities of 
wireworms. It is therefore a useful bird to the agricul- 
turist. In Great Britain, to which it is not an indigenous 
species, though the date of its introduction is not known, 
it has been proved by Prof. Boyd Dawkins that it had 
become naturalized in England before the Norman invasion, 
and therefore, as Mr. Howard Saunders says, “it has 
undoubtedly maintained itself in this country in a wild state 
for a period sufficient to entitle it to be considered a British 
bird.” —(Yarrell’s Hist. Brit. Birds, 4th ed., vol. iii., p. 94.) 
The introduction of the Chinese Ring-necked species or 
variety, P. torquatus, in the present century, has so far 
modified the British Pheasant that it is almost impossible, 
at the present day, to shoot a specimen which has not been 
more or less influenced by hybridization between the two 
forms. As with other gallinaceous birds, the Pheasant will 
breed with other species, and I have seen hybrids between 
it and the Golden and Silver Pheasants and the Common 
Fowl. It has also been known to breed with the Black 
Grouse and Guinea Fowl. Such hybrids, though they do 
not appear to breed when kept together, are productive 
when paired with either of the parent stocks. 
The Pheasant with us is polygamous, but Mr. Seebohm 
believes that this is due to the semi-domesticated state in 
which it is found in England. 
