P H A S I A N U S C O L C H I C T J S .
flies so heavily as to be unable to make long journeys. In their own country they are said to leave their places o f abode in
autumn, but soon return when the weather is favourable, and are therefore truly migrants.
“ The Pheasant is certainly' a forest bird, but still not so in the truest sense o f the term ; for neither does it inhabit the dense
true forest nor the depths of the mixed forest, unless driven to do so. Small pieces o f grove, where deep underbrush and high
grass grow between the trees, where thorn hedges, berry-growing bushes, and water overgrown with reeds, ditches, and here and
there pastures and fields are found, are its chosen place of abode. Nor must well-cultivated and grain-growing fields be wanting
where this bird is to do well. It neither likes the raw mountain-country nor dry sandy places; nor does it frequent the pine-woods,
unless for protection against its enemies, or during bad weather, fir a t night.
“ It lives on the ground, skulking about amongst the high grass and dense underbrush, and runs long distances without once
rising on the wing. Only when surprised by a beast of prey does it take refuge in a tree, which it leaves soon after, and returns
to the ground. It roosts on the branch o f a tree, generally from ten to thirty feet high; and it is an exception if one roosts
on the ground, when perhaps it has wandered too far into the fields from the trees.
“ It is an impetuous, wild bird, though not really shy, unless one calls its nervous carefulness and boundless flight by that name.
Eveii when used to its keeper and, half tame, it comes to the usual feeding-place, at the call it appears with fear and trembling,
and seeks to satisfy itself quickly, in order to run back to its-’.hiding-place in the thicket a t the least noise.
“ Its fear knows no bounds: a passing mouse will scare it severely; and even- a snail creeping past will frighten the hen off her
nest, and on the approach of real , and great danger she remains on it- like dead.
“ In spring and in the pairing-time the male is restless, excited, and wild.. He often then comes out of his hiding-place to an
open place or the edge of a thicket in an erect position, claps , his wings several times, and shoves himself forward, in a peculiar
position, a few feet, and emits a curious harsh note, which one cannot well express excepting by calling it a crow o f one syllable.
It lias some affinity with .the crow of the Barndoor Cock, but is shorter, and is accompanied with the same motions.
“ It is the note with which he calls the female to pair, and is seldom-heard except in spring. Only young males sometimes
crow in the autumn.
“ His food consists of grain-seeds, fruits and berries, green herbs, insects and worms, accordingly as the time of the year offers them.
“ Ants, and particularly their larvæ, are a particularly favourite food of his and these -form the chief food of the young.
“ It also eats • many green weeds, the tender shoots o f grass, cabbage, young clover, wild cress, pimpernel, young peas, &c. &c.
“ Of berries, Daphne mezereum, wild strawberries, currants, Sambuciis racemosa and S . nigra and S . ebulus, Rubus ceesius, R . idoeus,
R . fruticosus, Viscum album, Crateegus torminalis. Plums and apples and pears it will eat, and picks them piecemeal ; cherries,
mulberries, and grapes it also takes when it- can get them.
v; -“ In the autumn ripe seeds are its chief food. I t eats many of the Carex sorts, and particularly the Pânicum grasses, also
Polygonwn dumetorum, P . convolvulus,. P . aviculare, the Melampyrum species, &c., acorns, beech-nuts, &c. Amongst forest plants it likes
the seeds of the hemp-nettle (Galeopsis') and others. It feeds on almost all the seeds that the farmer sows.
. “ .The male does hot trouble himself about the nesting-business nor the care o f the young,
f .'“ ‘They are troubled with intestinal worms; and Hamularia nodosa, Ascaris vesicularis, and a peculiar Ttsnia have been found in
them: They are troubled with parasites in the feathers also (as are other gallinaceous birds), of the genera Philopterus and lÀotheum
—for instance, Liotheum pallidum (Nitsch), and others.”
Male.—Upper part of head green, brownish on the occiput. Tuft of greenish feathers on each side o f head, behind the ears.
Throat, sides of face, spot under the eye, and neck green, with rich bluish reflections. Upper part of back «golden, yellow, with a
dark blue VrShaped mark at the tip. Feathers of the rest of the back black, with their margins-deep chestnut, and a-bufly white line
runuing parallel to the shaft for two thirds of the length, and meeting near the tip. Rump red, with greenish reflections, becoming
deep red over the tail, where the feathers are very much split and hide the upper tail-coverts. Upper taU-coverts olive-rbrown,
mottled with brownislï black. Upper part of breast rich brown-red, glossing from orange to purple and blue. Flanks rich golden
orange, broadly tipped with deep blue. Abdomen black. Central tail-feathers yellowish brown in the middle, then a red- longitudinal
line, and the edges green.. Narrow black bars cross the Centre, and are continued on the rest of the feathers with red ones.
Lateral feathers similar, but mottled with black on their inner webs ; the extreme outer feathers mottled on both webs. Under
tail-coverts deep red. Bill horn-colour. Feet and legs leaden-grey. Bare skin of face scarlet, finely dotted with green feathers.
Female.—Head and neck reddish brown, banded with black. Upper part of back rufous, with broad black V-shaped lines, and tips
of feathers black; the rest of the back yellowish brown, with black centres and black tips. Secondaries chestnut, barred with black
and buff, the latter dividing the former, and tipped with white. Primaries brownish black, regularly barred on outer webs with yellowish
white, and mottled on the inner with the same. Rump yellowish brown, centre o f feathers, black. Upper part o f breast rufous,
with an irregulajajblack line crossing the feathers. Flanks yellowish, barred with brownish black. Middle of breast and abdomen
yellowish brown, finely vermiculated with dark brown. Tail-feathers chestnut in the centre, barred witli black, a narrow irregular
yellowish line going through the black bar, the outer edges olive-brown, mottled with black. Bill blackish brown. Feet and legs
leaden-grey;
Young, at birth, covered with downy feathers, riifous on head, marked with black, a black line down- thé rump, rufous in centre
of back. Underparts yellow.
The Plate represents male, female, and young, o f the natural size.