CHAPTER VII 



THE WILD PHEASANT 



"There can be no doubt that if the 

 pheasant were not artificially reared and 

 annually turned down in this country 

 it would soon cease to exist." ^ Thus Mr. 

 Ogilvie Grant of the British Museum, 

 the first authority on the natural history 

 and distribution of game-birds, and if this 

 unqualified assertion be true, then the 

 heading of this chapter must be a mis- 

 nomer, and little further remain to be 

 said on the subject. 



Yet it seems curious to reflect that the 

 old English pheasant — as we like to term 

 the original stock — managed to maintain 

 his foothold in this country for some 



1 Handbook to the Game Birds, by W. Ogilvie Grant, 

 1897, vol. ii. p. 12. 



190 



