40 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANT 



Djanaschvili believes that the pheasant ' delights to 

 live in warm, low-lying, and somewhat damp localities. 

 In summer and early autumn they keep in flocks of 

 from ten to twenty head, and sometimes more. In 

 winter the coveys or family parties break up, and, as a 

 rule, the birds are to be found singly in spring, or else 

 in pairs ; sometimes several cocks are found together.' 



An interesting fact to game preservers is that the 

 wild pheasants perform migratory movements. ' With 

 us in the Zakatal Circuit,' says Djanaschvili, 4he 

 pheasant in the summer often migrates to the higher 

 localities at the foot of the mountains ; but, after the 

 crops are gathered in, and on the approach of the first 

 cold weather of the autumn, it again returns to the 

 low-lying valleys of the river Alazani, where it passes 

 the winter in the reeds, long weeds, and bushes.' 



A question of interest to sportsmen is the food of 

 the pheasant, which in this country consists of the 

 tender shoots of plants, grass, bulbous roots, worms, 

 and insects. A cock pheasant which I dissected in 

 the month of June was full of the roots of the 

 common buttercup. Even the oak spangles attract 

 the attention of pheasants. Sometimes they eat 

 such hard food as hazel nuts ; as many as twenty- 

 eight nuts have been taken out of the crop of a 

 pheasant. Mr. J. Theobald extracted ninety-three 



