Family PHASIANIDiE. 



THE PHEASANT. 



Phasianus colchicus (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 57. 



When and by whom the Pheasant was originally introduced into England 

 is unknown, but it probably existed there long before it was first mentioned in a 

 document in the reign of King Harold in a.d. 1059. 



It is not heard of in Scotland until 1594, although, according to Thompson, it 

 was common in Ireland in 1589. 



About the end of the eighteenth century the Ring-necked Pheasant, P. 

 torquatus, was introduced from China, and later other varieties from Asia, so that 

 practically none of our wild birds are now pure bred. 



At the present time the Common Pheasant, the wild P. colchicus, according 

 to the B.O.U. " List of British Birds" (1915, p. 312), "inhabits the western parts 

 of Transcaucasia bordering the eastern and south-eastern shores of the Black Sea. 

 It is also found in a wild state in the northern parts of Asia Minor, Greece, south 

 Turkey, and along the western shores of the Black Sea as far as the Balkans, and 

 in Albania, but in those places it may have been introduced at some remote 

 period." 



In April or May the female lays her eight to twelve eggs, of a pale greenish- 

 brown colour occasionally tinged with bluish, the nest being only a slight hollow 

 in the soil, lined with dead leaves or pieces of herbage placed under the protection 

 of a fallen branch, or hidden among brambles or some such cover. 



The food consists of grain and various wild fruits and seeds, including black- 

 berries, acorns, beech-mast, and others, as well as snails, insects and grubs, the 

 young at first feeding mostly on ants and their pupae. 



The Pheasant is polygamous, and the harsh challenging crow of the cock, 

 followed by an audible flutter of his wings, may constantly be heard in the coverts 

 in spring, especially on fine sunny mornings, but what seems to be the true love- 

 note, uttered by the male when near the hens, is a very soft clucking sound, 

 delivered with head bent low as he walks with slow, dainty steps along the 

 ground. 



in. 73 K 



