Dates of Laying. 19 



the sand, in which the hen laid four eggs ; he then collected 

 a quantity of loose sticks, formed a perfect nest, and began 

 to sit ; he sat most patiently, seldom leaving the nest till the 

 eggs were, chipped, when the keeper, afraid of his killing 

 them, took them from him, and placed them under a hen 

 pheasant who was sitting on bad eggs ; they were hatched the 

 next day, and the young birds are now doing well." Other 

 cases of cock pheasants incubating were recorded in the Field 

 of July 5 and 19, 1892. 



Pheasants usually commence to lay in this country in 

 Ajiril or May, the date varying somewhat with the season 

 and the latitude. The eggs of penned birds have often been 

 found in the first week of April, and even in the last week 

 of March. In consequence of the artificial state in which 

 they are kept in preserves, and the superabundance of food 

 Avith which they are supplied, the production of eggs, as in 

 domesticated fowls, often takes place at most irregular periods. 

 Many instances are recorded of perfect eggs being found in 

 the oviducts of pheasants shot during the months of December 

 and January. For example. Sir D. W. Legard, writing from 

 Ganton, Yorkshire, on December 27, 1864, said: "At the 

 conclusion of a day's covert shooting last Tuesday, a hen 

 pheasant which had been killed was discovered by a keeper 

 to have a lump of some hard substance in her ; he opened her 

 in my presence, when, to my astonishment, he extracted an 

 egg perfectly formed, shelled, and apparently readj' to be laid ; 

 it was of the usual size, but the colour, instead of being olive, 

 was a greyish-white." 



A nest containing an egg has been noticed as early 

 as March 12, and many cases are recorded of strong 

 broods of young during the first few days of May. Lord 

 Warwick's keeper, J. Edwards, in May, 1868, wrote as 

 follows : " Yesterday (the 16th inst.), whilst searching for 

 pheasant eggs in Grayfield Wood,. I came upon a nest of 

 thirteen pheasant eggs, twelve just hatched and run, and one 

 left cheeping in the shell. The bird must have begun to 



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