1 7 Pheasants. 



and prolonged trials, infinitely more valuable to the pre- 

 server than small experiments made with aviary birds. 



It is interesting to note that our authority holds a rather 

 poor opinion of the ordinary run of pheasants in British 

 preserves, a fact that I have already pointed out in earlier 

 portions of this work, and also, if I may be permitted to 

 mention it, in repeated contributions to sporting literature. 



Experiments with the Mongolian Pheasant have been 

 made successfully in other portions of the country, and 

 there is no reason to doubt that it would serve its purpose 

 equally well upon Northern and Scottish preserves as in 

 South and East Anglia. 



Before leaving the subject of the Mongolian Pheasant, 

 I should like to add one or two items of valuable general 

 interest which have also been communicated to me from 

 the owner of Tring Park. He gives it as his opinion as 

 the result of his wide experience that 



" The best of the true pheasants still to be introduced 

 are the Oxus Pheasant (P. chrysomelas), the Kohinoor 

 Pheasant (P. strauchi), and the Ladah (Yarkand) 

 Pheasant (P. shawi). 



" I have personal experience that the common, Talisch, 

 Ringed (P. gmelini, not P. torquatus in this instance), 

 Mongolian, and Japanese Pheasants breed indiscriminately 

 among themselves, and are fertile. The Persian and 

 Siberian, like Talisch's, are too close to colchicus to make 

 it worth while bothering about them." 



As far as the main purposes of the average preserver 

 are concerned, it is not necessary to go further at present 

 into the matter of new species suitable for acclimatisation 

 with a view to the improvement of the present stock or their 

 maintenance as additional birds in covert. There are, 

 however, several other species to which it is necessary to 

 refer. These are for the most part birds which, to make 



c 



