THE COMMON PHEASANT 
fied if she finds one or two of her scattered brood, the remainder being left 
to perish. For this reason it is most important that coverts, where wild 
birds are breeding, should not be disturbed by irresponsible persons 
during the nesting -season, and gamekeepers cannot be blamed for treating 
trespassers with scant courtesy. 
When leaving her nest in the morning and evening in search of food 
the hen pheasant is usually careful to cover up her eggs with dead leaves, 
and she generally quits and returns to her nest on the wing, thus avoiding, 
as far as possible, the danger of being tracked by her enemies. 
In rare instances cock pheasants have been known to share the duties 
of incubation and of tending the young. Occasionally barren females 
are extremely vindictive and destructive, attacking and killing the young 
pheasants which are being reared under domestic hens. A case of this 
kind came under our notice in Hertfordshire; Many young had been 
killed, and brown owls, etc., were at first suspected as the culprits, but 
when a watch had been set, an old hen pheasant was seen to fly to the 
coops from the neighbouring covert, and instantly commence to kill the 
chicks. Other similar cases have been recorded. 
As soon as the newly hatched chicks have been dried and warmed by 
their mother, she leads them away and teaches them to hunt for food, 
which at first consists principally of insects and their larvae, especially 
wood -ants and their pupae, as well as worms and small molluscs. 
The young are extraordinarily active little birds, and run with great agility 
among the grass and herbage. As they grow up the hen pheasant wanders 
with her brood from place to place, wherever the three great essentials — 
water, food, and quiet — are to be found. Water is an absolute necessity, 
and many wild birds perish in very dry seasons for want of it. 
General habits . — ^In a wild state pheasants are very shy and timid birds, 
and we learn from the writings of Mr Djanaschvili in “ Caucasian Agri- 
culture,” that its unsociable habits are proverbial among the Georgians 
of the Zakatal district, the saying ” unsociable as a pheasant ” being a 
common expression among them. Their favourite home is thick covert, 
wood with plenty of undergrowth, in the immediate neighbourhood of 
cultivated land, where they can come out to feed in the early morning 
and evening. Oak, hazel and fir plantations are chiefly resorted to, the 
proximity of water being also an essential. Though they often perch 
and usually roost in trees, pheasants are essentially ground -birds, and 
when menaced by their enemy — man — always prefer to escape by running. 
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