244 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
lines it very scantily with stems of heather or grass ; 
the eight to ten eggs are a little smaller than those of 
the Grouse, and rather paler and less rich in ground 
colour. The Ptarmigan chiefly feeds, like the 
Grouse, on shoots of heather and other mountain 
plants, with various kinds of berries. 
PHEASANT. 
[Phasianus colchicus.) 
The Pheasant is not a native British species, but 
has now flourished in these islands for at least nine 
hundred years, and is said to have been introduced by 
the Romans, to whom it was well known in southern 
European regions. As the name indicates, its origi- 
nal home was on the eastern shore of the Black 
Sea, near the river then called the Phasis ; but the 
Black-necked or " Old English " Pheasant, as it is 
now called, is almost extinct as a pure-bred species, 
having been swamped during the last century by 
large importations of the Ring-necked Pheasant 
from China. As is well known, the Pheasant does 
not pair, the cocks fighting for the possession of a 
squad of hens in March or early April. A hollow 
is scraped in the ground, among brambles or rank 
herbage, by the hen, and scantily lined with dry 
leaves or such casual vegetation as she finds lying 
