20 NATURAL HISTORY OF- THE PHEASANT 



but its naturalisation in Sweden, first attempted on 

 a large scale by the late King Oscar, was finally 

 accomplished by Baron Dickson. 



Pheasant shooting has now become possible in 

 many countries. The island of St. Helena has long 

 been the home of the Siberian Pheasant, which was 

 introduced as long ago as 1775, and possibly much 

 earlier. At the present time, according to Mr. 

 Melliss, 'they exist abundantly, inhabiting the in- 

 terior of the island. . . . They are protected by game 

 laws, which permit them to be killed on payment of 

 the licence for six weeks in the summer or autumn of 

 each year ; and hundreds of them are generally killed 

 during one shooting season They find plenty of 

 covert, and generally make their nests in the long 

 tufly fields of cow-grass.' ' Notwithstanding the long 

 isolation of their progenitors, these insulated birds 

 only vary in the smallest degree from the typical 

 Siberian Pheasant. The neighbouring island of As- 

 cension can boast of a similar distinction. Nor are 

 pheasants absent from the Antipodes. As long ago 

 as 1876, pheasants were fairly established in Southern 

 New Zealand. Indeed, ' along the Kuriwao Hills, 

 and up the Waiwera Gorge, and all along that range 

 by Kaihiku Bush, and Warepa, down to South Moly- 



' St. Hehnay p. 94. 



