Pheasant

fez'ant, a genus of grouse-like birds native to southern Asia. The common pheasant of Great Britain was introduced during the thirteenth century, and has been cared for in game preserves. The male is as gaily colored as the peacock, but its tail feathers droop down the two sides of its rump not unlike the roof of a house. The head and neck are steel blue with brown, green, and purple reflections, and the feathers of the back and wings are marked with orange, red, black, brown, and yellow. The feathers of the under parts are golden red margined with black. As it walks along, the plumage changes color like that of a pigeon. The total length is about three feet, two-thirds of which is tail. The plumage of the female is of a modest brown.

The pheasant nests on the ground like other grouse. The eggs are not infrequently removed by the gamekeeper and hatched under hens. Pheasants raised in this way are as tame as other poultry and run to be fed at the sound of the keeper's voice. As soon as they are entirely grown he endeavors to drive them out into the woods in order to have them wild enough to afford sport when the shooting season opens. Yet it not infrequently happens that pheasant shooting degenerates into a sport about as thrilling as that of walking into a barnyard and shooting tame pigeons as they rise. Pheasant raising would be attended with less difficulty were it not for foxes. The English sportsmen give strict orders that foxes are not to be disturbed against the season of fox hunting. An old vixen is capable of breaking up any number of nests and of carrying young pheasants by the dozen to her den to regale her hungry cubs. As the gamekeeper is expected to have his woods full of wild pheasants by the first day of October, it may be seen readily that his life is not without care. A field of uncut buckwheat affords excellent winter food and shelter.

Pheasants are protected also in France and in other countries of Europe. Queen Josephine of France was a skillful shot. Some attempts have been made to introduce the pheasant into America, but without success. The American partridge is not infrequently called a pheasant, especially in the South. As our most ornamental grouse it perhaps merits the name, but the partridge is not a pheasant.

See Grouse