DISTEIBUTION IN QREAT BEITAIN AND IRELAND. 21 



The distribution of tlie pheasant over Great Britain and Ireland at the 

 present time is very general, it being found in all parts of the kingdom where 

 there is congenial shelter and some slight attempt at preservation and protection, 

 without which it would soon be extirpated by poachers and its numerous natural 

 enemies. 



It is abundant even in the most populous counties, and is not all uncommon 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis. In my own garden, six miles 

 from St. Paul's, a pheasant from the neighbouring woods, where they are preserved, 

 will occasionally put in an appearance and feed with the fowls without alarm ; but 

 it is in the well-wooded and highly preserved districts of England that these birds 

 most abound, and where they are excessively numerous. " The pheasant," writes Mr. 

 Sterland, in his " Birds of Sherwood Forest," " abounds on aU the estates in the 

 forest district, and to such an extent that few would credit the immense numbers. 

 They are almost as tame as barndoor fowls, and may be seen on the skirts of the 

 various plantations. Carefully tended and fed, and aU their natural enemies 

 destroyed, they become so accustomed to the presence of man that in many parts 

 they will hardly take the trouble to get out of the way, and are scarcely entitled 

 to the appellation of wild. Under circumstances so favourable they multiply rapidly, 

 but a natural limit seems to be set to their increase, and frequently, where they 

 are most abundant, large numbers are found dead without apparent cause; these 

 are always exceedingly fat and their plumage in the glossiest condition ; they seem 

 to drop down and die without a struggle. I have had them brought to me in this 

 state, and have found their flesh plump and of good colour, and every feather 

 smooth and perfect." I should rather incline to attribute the death in these cases 

 to apoplexy, arising from over-feeding on maize and stimulating artificial food, 

 than to any epidemic disease arising from overcrowding, as this attacks the young 

 and destroys them long before they arrive at maturity. 



"In Norfolk," writes Mr. Stevenson, in his admirable work on the birds of 

 that country, "there are many portions where the pheasant exists in a perfectly 

 wild state, and thrives weU under the protection of the game laws, both soil and 

 climate being alike favourable. It is in such districts, almost exclusively, that 

 one still meets with the pure Phasimms colcUcus, free from any trace of the 

 ring-necked or Chinese cross in its plumage, but offering at the same time a poor 

 contrast to those hybrid birds both in size and weight. Besides the thick under- 

 growth in woods and plantations, pheasants are particularly partial to low damp 

 situations, such as alder and osier carrs, by the river side. In this country, also, 

 stragglers from some neighbouring coverts are not unfrequently found on the snipe 

 marshes surrounding the broads, where the sportsman, foUowing up his dog at a 

 ' running point,' is suddenly startled by the whirr of a noble ' long-tail,' when never 

 dreaming of any larger game than rails or water-hens." 



