NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS. 



the Reeves pheasant, reaching in that species to a length exceeding flye or six feet. 

 They are all destitute of feathered crests or fleshy combs, hut are furnished with 

 small tufts of feathers hehind the eyes. In their native state they are essentially 

 forest birds, frequenting the margins of woods, coming into the open tracts in 

 search of food, and retreating into the thick underwood at the slightest cause for 

 alarm. The common pheasant, which has been introduced from its native country, 

 Asia Minor, for upwards of a thousand years, though spread over the greater part 

 of Europe, still retains its primitive habits. 



"It is," says Naumann, "certainly a forest bird, but not in the truest sense 

 •of the term; for neither does it inhabit the densely wooded districts, nor the depths 

 of the mixed forest, unless driven to do so. Small pieces of grove, where deep 

 underbush and high grass grow between the trees, where thorn hedges, berry- 

 growing bushes, and water overgrown with reeds, and here and there pastures and 

 fields are found, are its chosen places of abode. Nor must well- cultivated and 

 grain-growing fields be wanting where this bird is to do well. It neither 

 likes the bleak mountain country nor dry sandy places ; nor does it frequent the 

 pine woods unless for protection against its enemies, or during bad weather, or at 

 night." 



" In our own country," says MacgiUivray, " its favourite places of resort are 

 thick plantations, or tangled woods by streams, where, among the long grass, brambles, 

 and other shrubs, it passes the night, sleeping on the ground in summer and autumn, 

 but commonly roosting in the trees in the winter." 



Like the domestic fowl, which it closely resembles in its internal structure 

 and its habits, the pheasant is an omnivorous feeder ; grain, herbage, roots, 

 berries, and other small fruits, insects, acorrd, beech mast, are alike acceptable to 

 it. Naumann, in his work on the " Birds of Germany," gives the following detailed 

 ■description of its dietary on the Continent. " Its food consists of grain, seeds, 

 fruits, and berries, with green herbs, insects, and worms, varying with the time of 

 year. Ants, and particularly their larvae, are a favourite food, the latter forming 

 the chief support of the young. It also eats many green weeds, the tender shoots 

 of grass, cabbage, young clover, wild cress, pimpernel, young peas, &c., &c. Of 

 berries : the wild mezereum [Daphne Mezereum), wild strawberries {Fragaria), 

 currants, elderberries from the species Sambuous racemosa, S. nigra, and S. Ebulus; 

 blackberries {Ruhus ccesius, R. idceus, and R. fruticosus) ; misletoe {Viscum album); 

 hawthorn [Cratc&gus tormmalis). Plums, apples, and pears it eats readily, and 

 cherries, mulberries, and grapes it also takes when it can get them. In the autumn, 

 ripe seeds are its chief food, it eats those of many of the sedges and grasses, and 

 of several species of Polygonum, as P. dumetorum ; black bindweed (P. convolvulus) ; 

 knot grass (P. aviculare) ; and also those of the cow- wheat {Melampyrum) ; and 

 acorns, beech mast, &c., form a large portion of its food in the latter months of 



