920 Birds. 



once abundant in the Undercliff; and R. Loe can remember when 

 nearly every copse in the island was stocked. Sir R. Worsley, in his 

 6 History of the Isle of Wight,' mentions that " formerly this island 

 was plentifully stocked with game of all sorts :" and Henry VITI. 

 issued orders for preserving the pheasants in the island for the supply 

 of other royal manors. I have received from Mr. H. Loe three spe- 

 cimens of what are commonly called " mule birds ;" but what are 

 really old hens that have acquired the plumage of the male bird. 

 Their plumage was nearly as brilliant as that of an ordinary cock 

 pheasant, and their tails far more handsomely marked. Two of these 

 birds would seem to have attained such antiquity as to be really dying 

 of old age ; for they were little more than skin and bone. One was 

 unable to rise, and was caught by a retriever. 



I have an apology for an aviary, formed by enclosing one end of 

 the verandah of my house. This is inhabited by, amongst others, a 

 pair of pheasants. I once possessed a second hen ; but the poor bird 

 fell ill, and was so severely pecked by its sympathizing companions, 

 that I was obliged to remove it. These birds afford me much amuse- 

 ment, and have furnished me with some information. I was not 

 aware of the variety of the notes of the male. One note, which I 

 had previously heard in the woods, and knew not whence it pro- 

 ceeded, turns out to be the invitation to the female to nest. This 

 cock pheasant will form a depression in the ground, and pull about 

 hay, bents and straws, uttering all the while this peculiar note, and 

 making as much fuss as a Bantam cock of mine, which, when any one 

 of his ladies is about to commence laying, will go in and out of the 

 box placed for the purpose, carry in straws, arrange them, sit himself 

 down in the nest, as if trying how it will do, vastly eloquent all the 

 while, and evincing as much importance in his gait as if the weight 

 of an empire were on his shoulders. Having heard these same notes 

 in the woods, I am rather sceptical of the supposed practice of the 

 hen bird concealing her nest from the male. The same is said of the 

 pea-fowl ; whereas I have seen my peacock sitting for hours together, 

 day after day, by the side of the hen, when on her nest. The atti- 

 tude into which the cock pheasant will throw himself when paying 

 his addresses is very beautiful. He sidles up with tail spread, and 

 turned towards the hen, one wing a little raised, and the other as 

 much depressed, as if to exhibit as large a surface as possible of his 

 gorgeous plumage. Both birds are sad tyrants ; and not only do 

 they pull all the feathers they can come at out of their neighbours' 

 backs, but they invariably swallow them withal. 



