Near Wareham, Mass.
1900.
June 12-14
(no 17)
(Ring-necked Pheasant) ago by Messrs. Minot & Stockton.
They have increased rapidly and over ten or fifteen
square miles of country lying at the head of Buzzard's Bay
are now common. We saw from one to three daily during
my visit in the mowing fields & meadows on the way
to the village & every morning & evening a male would crow
at intervals of three or four minutes in the fields near
the house. When feeding out in the fields the cock bird
is a conspicuous object even in rather tall grass for
his brilliant plumage catches & reflects the rays of
the sun like burnished copper & when his attention
is attracted by a passing team he is sure to show
himself up & watch it. If approached by a man
on foot he squats & lies closely where it is not
easy to discover him in the grass. Most of the
birds which I started lay quite motionless until
I was within ten or fifteen feet. They rose strongly
springing nearly straight upward to a height of
20 feet or more & then flew off to a distance
moving their wings rapidly & steadily for the first
100 yards, after that alternately flapping & soaring.
I saw only one alight again which he did in an 
open meadow after passing over some woods &
then turning back in a half circle. Bangs says
that Pheasants live in the open fields but occasionally
alight in woods when flushed. The crow of
the cock is broken & husky & much like that
of a young rooster. A female with six young was
seen on the Bangs' place just before my arrival. 
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