The Mongolian Pheasant 103 
south of England breeders of pure Mongolian Pheasants, such as Mr. C. E. Russell, 
Mr. Hugh Wormald, and others, have been completely successful, and speak in high 
terms of them, both as table-birds and objects of beauty and sport. I need only 
quote one letter {Field, Jan. 16, 1909) written by "Baron" (Mr. Hicks), who has now 
given a fair trial for two years in Somerset both to pure and cross-bred birds. He 
says : — 
" Mr. Salmon states that the Mongolian pheasant is not a good bird from the shooter's 
point of view, is lazy on the wing, and does not give a good sporting shot. On the other 
hand, Mr. C. E. Russell and another correspondent, P., assert that the Mongolian flies well, 
and the cross-bred bird better still. 
" I have lately, through the kindness of a friend, had an opportunity of becoming personally 
acquainted with the sporting capabilities of both the pure Mongolian and the cross between the 
Mongolian and the Chinese birds, and can fully endorse all that Mr. C. E. Russell and P. 
have said about them. 
"On the estate where I have recently been shooting, for some years the Chinese pheasant 
(P. torquatus) has been reared, and splendid sporting shots they have given. But for the last 
three years Mongolians have been introduced, and some of them have been crossed with the 
Chinese ; the result is that the birds this year have shown better sport than ever. They rise 
freely to the beaters, and fly boldly, very fast and high ; in fact, if flushed on rising ground 
they fly almost too high to be reached. On one occasion when we were shooting, there was 
a very high wind, and the birds were flushed on a hillside over the guns placed in the valley ; 
no one who saw them fly could possibly say that they were ' lazy on the wing and never gave 
a good sporting shot' ; in fact, if anything, they were too active on the wing, and took such long 
flights that many of them went straight away out of that day's beat. 
"As regards the hardiness of these birds, both pure and crossed, in a letter to the Field, 
June 20, 1903, the Hon. Walter Rothschild stated that for two or three years he had hatched 
and reared in the coverts at Tring a number of young birds both pure and half-bred, and 
those that were shot proved much superior in flavour and size to ordinary pheasants. The 
keeper on the estate where I have been shooting fully bears out this opinion, stating that 
the chicks are very hardy and easier to rear than those of the common pheasant. This is the 
more easy to understand when it is remembered that the Mongolian pheasant comes from 
the rough climate of Northern China and Southern Siberia, while the Chinese ring-necked 
bird comes from the north of China ; the cross between the two, therefore, should be able 
to withstand any changes of climate found in this country." 
There may be some difference of opinion as regards the pure-bred Mongolian for 
general use in our islands, but there is now no shadow of doubt that the first 
cross, P. c. torquatus and P. c. mongolicus, is the best bird in every way for British 
coverts. 1 It seems to fulfil every consideration that a Pheasant should possess. 
In October 1907 an ex-gamekeeper, Mr. Thomas Pocock, wrote to the Field, 
saying that he considered pure and cross-bred Mongolians as undesirable birds, but his 
letter was immediately answered by a large number of professional and private Pheasant 
rearers, which confuted his remarks in every particular. Here, in Sussex, nearly all 
shooting men have met with great success with the cross-bred birds, and I have seen 
and killed many myself. In high woods, like those of Leonardslee, we see the birds 
at their best. They get on the wing very quickly, and at once rise to such an elevation 
that it requires good shooting to kill them cleanly. These cross-bred birds are of great 
1 Many preservers show a great partiality for the Mongolian and Japanese cross. This hybrid is of great size and beauty, 
and has none of the delicacy of P. c. versicolor. 
