114 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



that this habit may account chiefly for the fact that almost every 

 species that is extending its breeding range is extending it in 

 a northerly direction. The evidence that I have been able to collect 

 would be difficult to prove with respect to the smaller birds, although 

 it appears to me to be quite apparent. But with some of the larger 

 birds, and more particularly with some of the Terns, I have in- 

 disputable evidence that several young birds — on different occasions — 

 have distinctly moved north before taking their long southern journey. 

 I merely throw out the idea at present, as probably other observers 

 will have noticed the same thing. — H. B. Booth (Ben Ehydding, 

 Yorks). 



Hen Pheasant Transporting Chicks. — On June 9th of last year, 

 at a beautiful and secluded spot on our Somerset moorlands, a 

 gamekeeper and myself on coming up one side of a rhine which 

 divided meadow land from a swampy wood of birch and sallow, 

 walked or rather intruded suddenly upon a female Pheasant. Her 

 immediate behaviour on being discovered was apparent agitation, for 

 she quickly ran round and round in a small circle with wings nearly 

 extended and clucking excitedly, as though trying to shelter her 

 brood ; just as quickly I had noticed a chick in the grass, and moving 

 away to a short distance we watched her from behind a bush. In a 

 minute or so she flew over the rhine to the swampy woodside. This 

 rhine, or large ditch, is one of many which intersect our moorlands 

 for drainage purposes ; it is about eight feet across from bank to 

 bank, and was fairly well filled with water. With wings drooping 

 and a little extended she moved fussily about, but not so excitedly as 

 she had done when disturbed by us, and then a chick appeared upon 

 her back ; the chick had hopped there. Then, with something of a 

 mixture between a hop and a fly, she safely conveyed the chick 

 across to the meadow side which we had just walked up. She 

 returned six more times, and each time conveyed a chick safely over 

 in exactly the same way. To the bird-watcher an obvious query is, 

 How did such young chicks understand from the old bird that they 

 were to jump upon her back ? I can understand the latter half of 

 the brood doing exactly as they had seen the others do, but were the 

 first chicks to cross over conscious of what they were about ? Did 

 they know what the old female expected them to do ? I have noticed 

 with the domestic fowl when brooding that a chick now and then 

 misunderstands the parent's motive, and instead of going under her 

 wing hops upon her back ; we can hardly apply this explanation in 

 the case of the young Pheasants, for with them there seemed to be 



