An Undesirable Neighbour. 24 i 



circumstances they generally escape into the coverts and 

 become wild, under which conditions they breed freely. They 

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

 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 hesitating 

 to attack dogs, children, and even grown-up persons during 

 the breeding season. When wild they are flushed with 

 difficulty, and on the wing they have been rightly charac- 

 terised as being most unsatisfactory from a sporting point of 

 view, flying dangerously low, in a horizontal direction, and 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 like pheasants, and found them destitute 

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

 The flesh was white and, although the birds 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 

 the bushes in a very unexpected manner. On one occasion 

 he knocked a lady down, and on another occasion entered the 

 drawing-room and attacked a lady who was sitting there." 



Another writer says : " I have for many years had a score 

 of them running loose with the poultry — two cocks, one an old 

 one, the other a young one of last year, just getting into full 



