PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVTABIE8. 



flexuosum, and the tubers of the common buttercups 

 [Ranunculus huTbosus and B.ficaria), vhich are often scratched 

 out of the soil and eaten. Macgillivray states that " One of 

 the most remarkable facts relative to this bird that has come 

 under my observation, was the presence of a, very large 

 quantity of the fronds of the common polypody (Polypodium 

 vulgare) in the crop of one which I opened in the winter of 

 1835. I am not aware that any species of fern has ever been 

 found constituting part of the food of a ruminating quadruped 

 or gallinaceous bird ; and if it should be found by experiment 

 that the pheasant thrives on such substances, advantage 

 might be taken of the circumstance." 



Thompson, in his " Natural History of Ireland," recounts 

 the different varieties of food he observed in opening the 

 crops of ten pheasants — from November to April inclusive. 

 In seven he discovered the fruit of the hawthorn, with grain, 

 small seeds, and peas. In one no less than thirty-seven 

 acorns. Another had its crop nearly filled with grass j only 

 one contained any insects, the period of examination being 

 the colder months of the year; in summer the pheasant is 

 decidedly insectivorous ; all contained numerous fragments 

 of stone. He also records that in the spring the yellow 

 flowers of the pilewort (Ranunculus ficaria) are always eaten 

 in large quantity, as are the tuberous roots of the common 

 silver weed {Potentilla anserma), when they are turned up by 

 cultivation. Mr. Thompson adds: "While spending the 

 month of January, 1849, at the sporting quarters of 

 Ardimersy Cottage, Island of Islay, where pheasants are 

 abundant, and attain a very large size — the ring-necked 

 variety, too, being common — I observed that these birds, in 

 the outer or wilder coverts, feed, during mild as well as 

 severe weather, almost wholly on hazel nuts. In the first 

 bird that was remarked to contain them, they were reckoned, 

 and found to be twenty-four in number, all of full size and 

 perfect ; in addition were many large insect larvte. Either 

 oats or Indian corn being thrown out every morning before 



