G. II. Edwards—Pheasants



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form throughout the country. It was then, as it is now, possibly the

most handsome bird in Britain, and right down the centuries it has

been highly valued for purposes of sport and as an article of food.


It has never become domesticated in the real sense of the word,

nor will it ever become domesticated. Its first stages of life may

bring it in contact with man ; it may be reared under a domesticated

hen which is man-tainted ; it may be fed by man and accept human

attention . . . then, it begins to stray from the well provided coverts,

going farther and farther afield. The voice of its ancestors—the

Blacknecks that roamed across Asia, that fed on the marshes that are

now a mighty Channel, and that lived and died midst the dangers of

a Britain that was a vast jungle—The Voice whispers to it down

through the centuries, and this man-reared Pheasant is wild, alert,

and wary, ready to run at a hint of danger, and ready to battle for his

harem of hens in the spring of the year. A handsome untractable

creature, feathered in purples and golds.


II


MONGREL BIRD A KINGLY EPICURE—HOW IT INTERBRED WITH

OTHERS—THE BLACK PHEASANT: WHAT IS IT?


Until fairly recent times, the Pheasant known to Britain was the

Blackneck ( Phasianus colchicus). Over two hundred years ago, the

Chinese Ringneck (P. torquatus) was imported and turned loose in

the coverts, where it freely interbred with the Blackneck, so that

within a hundred years the cross-bred birds were as common as the

Blackneck.


Later, the Japanese Versicolor (P. versicolor), and lastly the

Mongolian (P. mongolicus), were similarly introduced by man, and they

too interbred with the Blackneck, the Ringneck, and the Blackneck-

Ringneck hybrids, so it will be appreciated that the Pheasant we are

pleased to call the British Pheasant is really a mongrel, and the product

of many races. It would be a hard task to sort out and classify the

varieties of the types which are to-day found in this country, so all

the varieties are grouped together as one species and called Phasianus

colchicus, which is the same name as that by which the Old English

Pheasant—the Blackneck—is known.



