PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



Pheasant (or so we were assured by the Japanese) passed the 

 weary hours while his mate was on her nest, and very sensibly 

 solaced himself and her with such music as he was capable of 

 making. It was, however, anything but melodious, and may 

 be represented as a sort of compound of the filing of a saw 

 and the screech of the peacock. There are two notes only 

 uttered in quick succession, and represented by the Japanese 

 name of Ki-ji, but the second note is much longer, louder and 

 more discordant, in fact has more of the saw-filing character, 

 Kee Jceae. These two notes are uttered, and if the bird is 

 not disturbed, they are repeated in about five minutes. A 

 good many times, perhaps twenty, to become better acquainted 

 with these individuals failed ; it seemed impossible to make 

 him fly if his covert was by any means extensive." 



Mr A. D. Bartlett, the superintendent of the Zoological 

 Gardens, in London, writing of this species, says : 



" Among the Phasia?iidce, some species are remarkable 

 for their pugnacious and fierce dispositions, not only the males, 

 but frequently the females destroy each other. The want of 

 sufficient space and means of escape among bushes and shrubs 

 or trees is no doubt the cause of a good many females being 

 killed when kept in confinement, and this serious misfortune 

 is not a rare occurrence. After the cost and trouble in obtain- 

 ing the birds, and when they have recovered from their long 

 confinement on the voyage, their owner desires to reap a 

 reward by obtaining an abundance of eggs, as the birds ap- 

 proach the breeding season. Alas ! he finds that some dis- 

 turbance has occurred. The place is filled with feathers, 

 and the female bird, from whom he has expected so much, 

 is found dead, or dying, her head scalped, or her eyes 

 picked out, or some equally serious injury inflicted. I 



S8 



