RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 
195 
tangled brakes, and leave passages which are easily 
distinguished by the practised eye of the poacher. 
During the winter months the pheasant goes regu- 
larly to roost, and the abundance of a preserve may 
easily be ascertained about twilight, by the noise 
which the males make in flying up to their perch. 
During summer, however, and when moulting, they do 
not tree, but squat among the long grass and cover, of- 
fering themselves in this way an easy prey to another 
class of enemies, polecats, foxes, &c. When pheasants 
are numerous, Mr Selby observes, “ the males are in 
general found associated during the winter, and sepa- 
rate from the females ; and it is not until the end of 
March that they allow the approach of the latter 
without exhibiting signs of displeasure, or at least of 
indifference. At the above mentioned time, the 
male assumes an altered appearance ; the scarlet of 
his cheeks, and around his eyes, acquires additional 
depth of colour, and he walks with a more measured 
step, with his wings let down, and with his tail car- 
ried in a more erect position. Being polygamous, 
he now takes possession of a certain beat, from whence 
he drives every male intruder, and commences his 
crowing, attended with a peculiar clapping of the 
wings, which answers as the note of invitation to the 
other sex, as well as of defiance to his own.” 
During summer, the favourite food of the phea- 
sants are tender shoots of the potato and other 
plants, and insects with their larva? ; as the au- 
tumn advances, the ripening grains of all kinds are 
