208 PHEASANTS FOB COVUBTS AND AVIABIES. 



No game cock could be more determined or courageous in liis 

 behaviour: and tlie sharp spurs with which this species is 

 armed render his assault a thing to be avoided, as he would 

 fly at the face of the intruder on his domain. 



From the readiness with which the Silver Pheasants can 

 be domesticated and reared among the other denizens of the 

 poultry yard, they occasionally escape into the coverts and 

 become wild, under which conditions they breed freely. They 

 are not, however, desirable additions, either to our Hmited 

 stock of game birds, or, though exceedingly ornamental, to 

 our very restricted number of domestic poultry, inasmuch as 

 they are exceedingly pugnacious, driving away all the true 

 pheasants from the preserves, fighting with the fowls, killing 

 the young chickens in the poultry yard, and not even 

 hesitating to attack dogs, children, and even grown-up 

 persons during the breeding season. When wild they are 

 flushed with difiiculty, and on the wing they have been 

 rightly characterised as being most unsatisfactory from a 

 sporting point of view, flying dangerously low, in a horizontal 

 direction but a few feet from the ground. 



With regard to their edible qualities I can speak very 

 positively, as I have had specimens that have been shot in the 

 coverts cooked as pheasants, and found them destitute of the 

 flavour of game, and altogether of very inferior quality. The 

 flesh was white, and, although the bird had been well hung, 

 exceedingly firm. 



A correspondent informs me that he has " reared several 

 Silver Pheasants in confinement, and has turned them out 

 about the grounds. The males are exceedingly tame, but also 

 exceedingly dangerous. Last year I had a lovely specimen, 

 which used to feed at the window of the breakfast-room with 

 the peafowl and other birds, and even knock at the glass and 

 make its way into the room. But in the spring, when hatching 

 was going on, he attacked ladies and children in the most 

 determined manner, always flying at the face. He would 

 dodge people walking, and make his appearance from under 



