THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
and the middle of May. The habits of the wild bird thus differ little from 
those of our semi -domesticated bird, which scratches out a slight hollow 
in the ground in some spot more or less hidden from view by dead ferns, 
brambles, or coarse tufts of grass and other herbage, and roughly lines it 
with a few stems of grass and dead leaves. Nests in woods are sometimes 
situated in quite open places. In this country reed -beds are seldom, if ever, 
resorted to for nesting -purposes, but some of the closely allied Asiatic 
species, such as P. principalis^ which inhabits the Murghab Valley, habit- 
ually select such situations, and pass most of their time there. 
Though the nest is almost invariably on the ground, in covert, or on 
the sunny side of a thick hedgerow, individual hens occasionally develop 
very eccentric habits, and resort to stacks, the tops of walls covered with 
ivy, and even to trees, utilizing old squirrel’s dreys, or the nests of sparrow- 
hawks, wood -pigeons, etc. In such cases, when the young are hatched 
many feet from the ground, a considerable percentage are no doubt killed 
in making their perilous descent to the ground. 
Eggs . — ^The usual number of eggs laid is from eight to fifteen, and 
though as many as thirty are sometimes found in a nest, these are no 
doubt the produce of more than one hen. The eggs are of a broad oval 
shape, somewhat pointed at the smaller end, and generally uniform brown 
or olive -brown in colour, or more rarely bluish -green, with a rather 
smooth polished shell. The average measurements are 1*8 inch by 
1*4 inch. The pheasant often lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, 
such as the partridge, red-legged partridge, grouse, grey-hen, caper- 
caillie and landrail, and occasionally in nests of wild duck and woodcock. 
The writer once found a nest of the common partridge which contained 
a mixed assortment, including eggs of the red-legged partridge and 
pheasant. 
Incubation . — ^The period of incubation varies from twenty-two to twenty- 
five days, but twenty -three or twenty -four days is the usual time. The hen 
pheasant sits very closely on her eggs, her plumage generally assimilating 
well with the surroundings of the nest, but she is not nearly such a good 
mother as the partridge, and is much more inclined to desert her nest if 
disturbed. Even when the young are hatched she is generally much less 
solicitous about their welfare than the majority of game-birds, and, if 
disturbed, usually flies off and leaves her young to look after themselves. 
This habit is often extremely disastrous to the brood, especially when the 
chicks are very small, for, on her return, she is apparently perfectly satis - 
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