Habits and Character. 11)0 



times over, quite musical, but not loud, being as unlike what 

 would be expected from such a bird as a pheasant, as the voices 

 of sundry Columbidce are utterly different from what would 

 have been expected to proceed from pigeons and doves." 



The late Mr. J. .J. Stone, to whom naturalists are so much 

 indebted for his introduction of this and other splendid 

 pheasants, was of opinion that the value of Eeeves's pheasant 

 in this country rests mainly upon its size and strength of 

 flight, making it the prince of game birds for our woods. In 

 a communication to me on the subject, he wrote : " The point 

 I aim at is to induce the large landed proprietors and game 

 preservers to introduce the Eeeves's pheasant into their 

 coverts, believing that it will (from its wild character) afford 

 the best sport of all the pheasants, and from its size and the 

 magnificence of its plumage it must be a desirable addition to 

 our list of game birds. I want to see Eeeves's pheasant 

 common on the dinner table ; and there is no reason why it 

 should not be so in a few years, seeing that it is now being 

 bred freely in Belgium, and may be purchased there at about 

 the price which the Versicolor still commands, though much 

 longer introduced into Europe." Since Mr. Stone's death 

 several successful attempts have been made to introduce this 

 most noble of all the true pheasants into our coverts. But 

 though the Eeeves' pheasant may be an excellent sporting bird 

 in coverts which are suitable as regards environment — as will 

 be seen in the description by Mr. J. G. Millais which follows — 

 it is not a satisfactory addition to coverts stocked with ordinary 

 pheasants, being pugnacious and quarrelsome. It will not allow 

 other birds to feed with it, and as the other cock pheasants run 

 when the Eeeves' cock comes out into the ride, the methodical 

 management of birds in covert becomes difficult if not 

 impossible. 



Lord Lilford, writing in March, 1881, gave me the following 

 information : " I have kept several in pens, and found them 

 very uncertain layers, although one season my hen birds laid 

 an average of twenty eggs apiece, from which a very good 



