334 USEFUL BIRDS. 
One man is reported to have seen a Pheasant kill a Par- 
tridge. I watched the Quail and Pheasant feeding together 
at Wareham, and one day saw a Pheasant strike a Quail 
on the head with its beak, exactly as a hen will sometimes 
strike and kill a strange chicken. In this case, however, the 
Quail escaped, but gave the Pheasant a “wide berth” there- 
after. One observer reports that a lady was feeding Quail 
in winter, and that a cock Pheasant habitually drove the 
Quail away and ate the grain. ‘ 
Pheasants do much good by destroying insects, and there 
need be no fear that these birds will ever become numerous 
enough throughout the State to do great harm. Generally 
they appear to be unable to hold their own. The common 
report is that “Pheasants have been turned loose here, but 
have all disappeared.” No eatable bird of the’ size of a 
Pheasant can ever increase much in numbers in Massachusetts 
except on land where it can be protected from all shooters. 
SNIPE, SANDPIPERS, WOODCOCK, ETC. 
Most of the birds of this order, which includes the Plover, 
are known as shore birds or marsh birds, and are seen mainly 
in migration on the shores of the sea or large bodies of fresh 
water. Three species either are, or once were, common 
summer residents of this State, and all three go to fields 
or cultivated land for a large part of their food. One, 
the Spotted Sandpiper, is still quite common; and another, 
the well-known Woodcock, may again become so if it can 
be protected from excessive shooting. Another still, the 
Bartramian Sandpiper or Upland Plover, which was once a 
common summer resident of upland fields, has long been on 
the road to extermination, and can now be saved only by 
enacting and enforcing stringent laws for its protection in 
those States where it breeds, as well as in the more southern 
States, where the birds find neither rest nor mercy. Most 
of the other species of this order, which once migrated along 
the coast in countless numbers, are of economic importance 
principally as food; but, with few exceptions, the larger 
species are so reduced in numbers that they are at present 
of little account in any economic sense. 
