INTRODUCTION xlix 



do very little damage to the crops, and even when they make a regular practice of 

 appearing among the grain morning and evening, it is the insect life which is the 

 principal attraction. We realize that this must be so when we see the hundreds and 

 thousands of Ring-necked Pheasants living in and about the Chinese grainfields, 

 working no havoc but probably doing much to keep down the insect pests. Now that 

 the Chinese are, 'with other occidental innovations, taking to a meat diet, the pheasants 

 are immune in none of their haunts save where Buddhist and Hindus hold sway. 

 Everywhere they are trapped, snared, pierced with poisoned arrows from blowpipe or 

 crossbow, or shot with repeating shotguns. In English governed colonies they are 

 protected by well-regulated game laws, and the brooding hen and the young chicks 

 are immune. 



For many years pheasants have paid heavy toll to the millinery trade. Wilson, who 

 years ago gave us good accounts of the habits of the birds, admits the slaughter of 

 over forty-five thousand Impeyans alone, and I have seen huge bales of Silver Pheasant 

 feathers seized in the Rangoon custom house. Nepal and China still export large 

 quantities unhindered, but the market has been so cut down by exclusion laws in 

 Europe and the United States, and the kinds of feathers admitted so definitely defined, 

 that the trade in pheasants' plumage must soon die out. 



Taken as a whole, pheasants are more adapted to captivity than any other group 

 of birds. Long after the last wild bird has vanished, several species will persist in 

 captivity. Besides the utility of the Red Junglefowl and the aesthetic value of the 

 Peacock, the Caucasian and the Ring-necked Pheasants are playing an important part 

 in providing sport, and incidentally food for large numbers of people. They are reared 

 in exceedingly large numbers on preserves in many countries, and have been introduced 

 into most temperate regions and important islands. In frequent cases they are actually 

 replacing lost or nearly extinct native game birds, and hence have become important 

 factors in preserving the balance of life on the earth. 



