An Omnivorous Feeder. 3 



bush 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 protec- 

 tion against its enemies, or during bad weather, or at night." 



" In our own country," says Macgillivray, " 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 winter." 



Like the domestic fowl, which it closely resembles in its 

 internal structure and its habits, the pheasant is an omni- 

 vorous feeder ; grain, herbage, roots of the wood anemone, 

 berries, and other small fruits, worms, small field slugs, 

 insects, acorns, beech-mast, are alike acceptable to it. 

 Naumann 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 particu- 

 larly 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, etc. Of berries : the wild 

 mezereum {Daphne mezereum), wild strawberries {Fragaria), 

 currants, elderberries from the species Samhucus racemosa, 

 S. nigra, and S. ebulus ; blackberries {Bubus coesius, B. idaus, 

 and B. fructicosus) ; mistletoe (Viscum album) ; hawthorn 

 (Cratcegus torminalis). 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 



