12 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



The day was cold and frosty, and there was a slight fog on 

 the water." When wounded and dropped into the water, 

 pheasants swim with facility, and some instances are on record 

 of their diving beneath the surface and rising at some 

 distance. 



As the breeding season approaches, the crow of the male, 

 resembling the imperfect attempts of a' young fowl, may be 

 heard distinctly. It is followed, and not preceded as in the 

 game cock, by the clapping of the wings ; the pheasant and 

 the domestic cock invariably reversing the order of the 

 succession of these two actions. Like the domestic fowl, 

 pheasants will also answer any loud noise, occurring either by 

 day or night ; they have been noticed replying regularly to 

 the signal gun at Shorncliffe, which is fired at sunrise and 

 sunset, and this in coverts situated some miles distant; and the 

 practice with the heavy guns at the various military stations 

 will often cause a chorus of " cucketing " in all the coverts 

 for a great distance round. 



The display of the plumage during courtship by the males 

 varies in almost every species of gallinaceous birds. That of 

 the pheasant was carefully described by the late Mr. T. W. 

 Wood, in an interesting article on the "Courtship of Birds." 

 Pheasants seem to possess no other mode of display than the 

 lateral or one-sided method. In this the males disport them- 

 selves so as to exhibit to the females a greater number of 

 their beautiful feathers than could otherwise be seen at one 

 view. The peculiar attitude assumed by the male of the 

 common species is correctly shown in the vignette on page 20 

 at the end of this chapter; the wing of the side nearest the 

 female is partly opened and depressed, precisely in the same 

 manner as performed by the male of the common fowl, and, 

 in addition, the tail is expanded, and the upper surface 

 turned towaifts the same side, whilst the bright vermilion skin 

 around the eye is greatly extended, and the little purple 

 aigrettes erected. Singular modifications of this sexual 

 display of the plumage occur in the Argus and Golden 



