44 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



bare ground under certain trees, or on the drives, or on plat- 

 forms of branches raised several feet from the earth in the woods. 

 Patches of buckwheat and beans are also sown close to the covers 

 in many places for the sole benefit of the Pheasants, the thick 

 growth affording concealment as well as food. The note of the 

 male Pheasant is a short harsh crow, sounding something like 

 cor-r-h. The bird becomes most noisy at nightfall just before re- 

 tiring to rest, and each successive crow is followed by a flapping 

 of the wings. 



Nidification. — Semi-domestication appears to have so far 

 affected the morals of the Pheasant that it has caused it to depart 

 from its usual monogamous instincts and to adopt the looser 

 ethics of polygamy, just as the domesticated descendants of the 

 Wild Duck have done. In its native wilds the Pheasant appears 

 to be strictly monogamous, but in this country the male bird 

 almost invariably associates himself with several females (as many 

 as his prowess or his charms can keep or attract), and upon them 

 devolves all care of the eggs and young. Instances, however, 

 are on record where Cock Pheasants in our islands have been 

 known to assist, not only in the duties of incubation, but in 

 attending to the brood. The Pheasant does not appear to have 

 been polygamous long enough to have certain recognised pairing 

 stations or " laking " places, but towards the end of March the 

 cock-birds begin to crow and fight for the females, each collecting 

 and maintaining a harem varying in size with his prowess. The 

 hens go to nest in April and May. The inherent timidity or 

 shyness of this species causes it to breed in seclusion, and the 

 great nesting grounds are well in the cover of plantations and 

 woods, although many odd birds nest wide amongst growing 

 crops, or in the hedge bottoms. Sometimes the nest is placed by 

 strange caprice in an old squirrel's drey, or on the top of a stack ; 

 and I have known it in the centre of a tuft of rushes within a 

 couple of yards of a much-frequented footpath. Each female 

 makes a scanty nest, under the arched shelter of brambles, or 

 dead bracken, or very often beneath heaps of cut brushwood 

 which has been left upon the ground all winter. It is little more 

 than a hollow, in which a few bits of dry bracken or dead leaves 

 and scraps of grass are collected. The eggs are usually from 



