THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Old cocks especially, which have learnt wisdom from past experience, 
are extremely artful, and will often run for long distances far in front 
of the beaters, before they eventually fly out at some unguarded spot 
in the covert; often, too, they refuse to rise at all, and on nearing the end 
of the covert, run back between the beaters as fast as their legs can carry 
them, generally managing to escape. 
The crow of the cock pheasant resembles the syllables or-ork which are 
often repeated several times in succession, and may be exactly imitated by 
opening the mouth and drawing the breath in sharply to the back of the 
throat. This call is generally to be heard in the morning and evening, 
especially about sunset, when the birds are going to roost, but during 
the pairing-season it may be heard at all times of the day, and is usually 
accompanied or followed by a few very rapid wing-beats, producing a 
whirring sound. The call is also uttered when the birds are flushed or 
suddenly startled by any loud noise, such as the report of a gun, or a 
clap of thunder. On the ground the cock pheasant holds himself very 
erect when calling; he also frequently crows three times in succession 
as he rises, if he has been squatting in covert. 
He has another metallic note like klink, klink, klink^ which is heard 
just before he flies up to his tree to roost, and as he rises and settles on 
his perch, he utters a series of or-orks., so that all the pheasant -world 
may know that he has turned in for the night. 
Every cock bird calls as he flies up to roost, and it is thus easy to 
ascertain approximately how many cock birds there are in any covert. 
The trees selected for roosting in vary much: larch, spruce, and silver 
firs, oaks, beech and poplars are perhaps those most resorted to in the 
order mentioned. Pheasants are very fond of roosting over or near running 
water, and for this reason often select deciduous trees, though there may 
be plenty of spruce and larch in the coverts close at hand. One spot in 
particular comes to mind, a canal in Wales, bordered by large naked 
poplar trees, where most of the pheasants in the neighbourhood come 
to roost, even on winter -nights, when one would imagine that the snug 
coverts all round would offer a much safer and more pleasant resting 
place. It is true that these poplar trees support large bunches of mistletoe, 
on the berries of which the birds feed, but the supply is, after all, a very 
limited one. In summer and early autumn the young birds generally, 
and the old birds occasionally, roost on the ground, but by the end of 
September most of the youngsters have learnt to perch in trees. The 
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