a pale buff-coloured variety which crops up in: certain
localities.
Whilst ob the subject of introduction, it may be mentioned
that Pheasants have been, imported both from England
and China into New Zealand, where they have multiplied
with marvellous rapidity. The Chinese pheasant was
acclimatized in the island of St, Helena in 1513 by some
Portuguese exiled from Goa, and their descendants continue
to thrive; a slight variation from the original type being
noticeable in their plumage, probably owing to the influences
of altered climate and diet. Pheasants have also been introduced
in the neighbouring island of Ascension.
Woods that are thick at the-, bottom, with long grass kept
up by brambles and bushes, thick plantations, or iparshy
islands and moist grounds overgrown with, r-ushps^pgds, or
osiers, are the favourite resorts of Pheasants* in default of
which they take tp, .thick' hedgerows, but can seldom be
induced to remain long on any. ground bare ofr/shejteg, however
undisturbed. Wood and water, are indispensable*
The short crow of the males may be heard in March, when
they fight freely for the-pgsge§rio|i of the hens, and (display
their-plumage to. the-greatest advantage. ,The females hage,
been known to commence laying in that month,; although, as
a rule, not until April, hatching by-the- end, o^jV^y^the
beginning of June. Sitting birds have also been found &s
late as the beginning of September. They,-,make a slighte st
upon the ground, in which they deposit from ten to fourteen
eggs, measuring about in.,, ggngrally-of a
unifbrit olive-brown colour; bu>t pale bluish varieties are,
however, not uncommon. The well-known.suppr^ipn of the
scent in a sitting hen, somecess.ary fpr the - safety of. a groundnesting
species, is; due, in the opinion^ Mr., Tegejijnedea^tjpfi
vicarious secretion; that is to say, the odoriferous^ particles
which are usually, exhaled by the-Skin are, during incubation,
excreted into the intestinal canal.
r .Incubation lasts about twenty-four days*. Two and eyen
three,- hen Pheasants will sometimes lay in .the, same" nest,
and many instances, are. on „record- pf nested containing both
Partridges’ and Pheasants’ eggs, the hens of both species
having been observed Sitting side by side in perfect amity:
The common fowl has also been taken into partnership ; and
three wild hen Pheasants are. said to have availed themselves
of the nest of- a tame Duck. - Lofty situations, such as old
nests and squirrels’ dreys in trees, are sometimes selected, but
the entire brood is-rarely brought down in safety. T5ock birds,
as a rule, take no share whatever in the duties of incubatioh
yet there are a few well-authenticated instances of their having
been seen sitting onnests in covers, as well ate in aviaries, and
also of their assuming the protection of the yOung brood.
The food of Pheasants a wild state consists bf grain,
seeds, green IbavesTahdTnsects, especially ants and their,
larvae, wiiichTOrm the chief sustenance of the young. They
have been observed pulling down ripe blackberries from a
hedge-ride, and later in the year flying up into high bushes
to pick sloes and haws. The root of the buttercup-* Ramin*
cubs bulbdsus, and also'’# 6 -’pilewort crowfoot; RdnUncuMs
ficaria, f6rmsT #^^ea*t -portion- of their food during the
months of May' andnJune, and at-fhe-latter end of autumn
thrir crops are often found to be distended with acorns of so
large a size, that they could not have Bee'irswallowed without
great'-difficulty. ’ The -^’fepangles^ or galls " of the oak are
also’favourite fbbd. Pheasants destroy enormous number/1
of injurious insects f5h6Tes;s than 1,200 wire - w orffi/ having"
been taken out of'the cr'd-jP of a single1 bird, and from
another Mr. F. Bbrfdh^rabted'4^40 grubs'-df'the crAne^fly.^
Several in&tahfees are on record* 6f~ the “hflfew-wornd ‘(Angih’f
fragilityf being devoured, and %b6feris ''one instance of a-
Pheasant bring found dead, evidently * choked by swallowing
a short-tailed Adid-moUsi^ TheTfeaVlsi-f of the* yew Jtree have
also been- known ^ prove fatal, and? shbt, picked up in the
cW#s; has produced lead-poTsbriidg.* Towards and through i
out the winter; Pheasants xh presefveS;,:to prevent them from
straying away in!,ttei¥^seaveli^for food, fetjuif e^ifo be supplied
constantly with barley in Th'd^stftw, or beans, of both; and
one good mode of-'inducing them fo stop at home isJ to sow
* W. H.’ Tegetmeier,'** Pheasants, f». .