Pheasants : their natural history and practical management

Front matter

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Med

THE PRINCE OF WALES’S PHEASANT (Phasianus principalis )

Preface

~~1' DETAILED ACCOUNT of: the natural history, !& habits, food, and treatment of the various species of Pheasants had long been a desideratum ; this book was projected with a view to supply the want in a more complete and comprehensive form than had hitherto been attempted. The extremely favourable reception which the previous editions met with, not only from the reviewers, but also from the general public, showed that the demand for such information was not over-estimated, whilst the opinions expressed by many of our highest authorities have led me to believe that the endeavour to combine ornithological research with practical experience in the management of this group of birds was not unattended with success.

In the following work I have given the natural history and general practical management, not only of the pheasants strictly adapted for the covert, but also of the allied species, which are the best adapted to our aviaries.

The progress of scientific exploration is continually bringing to light species of pheasants hitherto unknown ;

IV

PREFACE.

some of these are well suited to our coverts, whilst others are regarded as ornamental birds. A few years since the only pheasant bred wild in England was the common species (. Phasianus colchicus ); our coverts now possess the Chinese (P. torquatus) and the Japanese (P. versicolor) species; whilst the Keeves's pheasant (P. reevesii), still more beautiful, and equally well adapted both for sporting and culinary purposes, has been recently introduced. In the same manner, our aviaries have recently been enriched by the addition of the Amherst pheasant ( Thaumalea amherstise ) and others, which, by their exquisite beauty, eclipse even the gorgeous coloration and elegant markings of the comparatively well-known Gold and Silver pheasants.

To indicate and illustrate these various species, to give as far as is known their natural history, to describe the best methods of rearing them in preserves and inclosed pheasantries, to enter into the numerous details respecting their food, management, protection, rearing, diseases, &c., is the object at which I have aimed in the preparation of this work.

In the following chapters I first treat of the natural history of the pheasants generally — their food, habits, nesting, &c. Then follows the consideration of their management in preserves, the details of the different methods of feeding the birds, their protection from their numerous enemies, the formation of coverts, &c. This is succeeded by an account of their treatment in inclosed pheasantries, the hatching of the eggs, rearing and feeding the young birds, and the prevention and cure of their diseases.

PREFACE.

v

A detailed description of all the different species adapted for turning out, and of the various hybrids and crosses between them, is then given ; and the work concludes with accounts of the ornamental species, such as the Gold, Silver, and Amherst pheasants, and the best methods of their management in aviaries.

Of the admirable engravings which illustrate the volume I may remark, in the words of Izaak Walton, “Next let me add this, that he that likes not the book should like the excellent pictures .... which I may take a liberty to commend, because they concern not myself.”

W. B. TEGETMEIER.

North Finchley, N.

-o-o^j8cJcx>

The Argus Pheasant

Appendix

Transport op Pheasants

•«y^oo

LIST OF PLATES.

Prince of Wales’s Pheasant (P. principalis) Frontispiece

Common Pheasant (P. colchicus) To face 143

Bohemian Pheasant (P. colchicus — variety) ^ ^

Hybrid Pheasant (Reeves’s and Bohemian) )

Chinese Pheasant (P. tovquatus) ,, loo

Japanese Pheasant (P. versicolor) „ 161

Soeminerring’s Pheasant (P. scemmerringii ) „ 169

Reeves’s Pheasant (P. reevesii) ,, 177

Reeves’s Pheasant in Flight ,, 185

Reeves’s Pheasant (P. reevesii) „ 183

Golden Pheasant ( Thaumalea picta) ,, 189

Amherst Pheasant ( Thaumalea , amherstice) „ 199

Silver Pheasant (PJuplocamus nycthemerus ) „ 207

Eared Pheasant ( Crossoptilon viantchuricum) „ 213

Impeyan Pheasant {.Lophophorus impeyanns) ... ,, 214

Argus Pheasant [Argus giganteus) ,, 221

Argus Pheasant Displaying its plumage „ 225

PHEASANTS

FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES.

CHAPTER i NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANTS

HABITS, FOOD, STRUCTURE, ETC.

HE PHEASANTS, properly so called (as distinguished from the allied but perfectly distinct groups which include the Gold and Silver pheasants, the Kaleege, the Monaul, &c.) constitute the genus or group known to naturalists under the title Phasianus.

Of the true pheasants no less than thirteen distinct species have been described by Mr. D. G. Elliott, in his magnificent monograph on the Pliasianidse. Of these several are known only by rare specimens of their skins brought from scarcely explored Asiatic countries, and others cannot be regarded as anything more than mere local or geographical varieties of well known species. Since the publication of Elliott’s Phasianidse several additional species have been described.

Without including, however, such birds as have, from their rarity or other causes, no practical interest to English game preservers, there remain several well known species that will require our careful consideration. Such are: The common pheasant ( Phasianus coichicus), now generally diffused

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PHEASANTS FOP COVERTS AND AVIARIES.

throughout southern ancl central Europe ; the Chinese (P. torquatus ) ; the Japanese (P. versicolor) ; the Beeves (P. reevesii) ; and the Soeminerring (P. soemmerringii) . These, however, are so closely related in their structure, form, and habits, that their natural history and general management may be given once for all, and their distinctive peculiarities pointed out subsequently.

The pheasants constituting the genus Phasianus are readity distinguished by their extremely elongated tail feathers, which attain their maximum development in the Reeves pheasant, reaching in that species to a length exceeding five or six feet. They are all destitute of feathered crests or fleshy combs, but are furnished with small tufts of feathers behind the eyes. In their native state they are essentially forest birds, frequenting the margins of woods, coming into the open tracts in search of food, and retreating into the thick underwood at the slightest cause for alarm. The common pheasant, which has been introduced from its native country, Asia Minor, for upwards of a thousand years, though spread over the greater part of Europe, and more recently introduced into America, Australia, and New Zealand, still retains its primitive habits.

“It is/’ says Naumann, in his work on the “Birds of Germany,” “ certainly a forest bird, but not in the truest sense of the term ; for neither does it inhabit the densely wooded districts, nor the depths of the mixed forest, unless driven to do so. Small pieces of grove, where deep underbush and high grass grow between the trees, where thorn hedges, berry-growing bushes, and water overgrown with reeds, and here and there pastures and fields are found, are its chosen places of abode. Nor must well-cultivated and grain-growing fields be wanting where this bird is to do well. It neither likes the bleak mountain country nor dry sandy places; nor does it frequent the pine woods unless for protection against its enemies, or during bad weather, or at night.”

FOOD OF THE PHEASANT.

“ In our own country/7 says Macgillivray, “its favourite places of resort are thick plantations, or tangled woods by streams, where, among’ the long* grass, brambles, and other shrubs, it passes the night, sleeping on the ground in summer and autumn, but commonly roosting in the trees in the winter.77

Like the domestic fowl, which it closely resembles in its internal structure and its habits, the pheasant is an omnivorous feeder ; grain, herbage, roots, berries, and other small fruits, insects, acorns, beech mast, are alike acceptable to it. Naumann gives the following detailed description of its dietary on the Continent. “Its food consists of grain, seeds, fruits, and berries, with green herbs, insects, and worms, varying with the time of year. Ants, and particularly their larvae, are a favourite food, the latter forming the chief support of the young. It also eats many green weeds, the tender shoots of grass, cabbage, young clover, wild cress, pimpernel, young peas, &c., &c. Of berries : the wild mezereum {Daphne mezereum) , wild strawberries [Frag aria) , currants, elderberries from the species Samhucus racemosa, S. nigra, and S. ebulus ; blackberries (. Rubus csesius, B. idseus , and R. fruiticosus ) ; mistletoe ( Viscum album) ; hawthorn ( Gratsegus torminalis). Plums, apples, and pears it eats readily, and cherries, mulberries, and grapes it also takes when it can get them. In the autumn, ripe seeds are its chief food, it eats those of many of the sedges and grasses, and of several species of Polygonum, as P. dumetorum ; black bindweed (P. convolvulus) ; knot grass (P. aviculare ) ; and also those of the cow-wheat ( Melampyrum ) ; and acorns, beech mast, &c., form a large portion of its food in the latter months of the year. Amongst forest plants, it likes the seeds of the hemp-nettle ( Galeopsis ), and it also feeds on almost all the seeds that the farmer sows.77

To this long catalogue of its continental fare may be added the roots of the common silver weed ( Potentilla anserina), and those of the pig-nut or earth-nut (. Bunium

b 2 flexuosum , and tlie tubers of the common buttercups (. Ranunculus bulbosus and R.ficaria), which are often scratched out of the soil and eaten. Macgillivray states that “ One of the most remarkable facts relative to this bird that has come under my observation, was the presence of a very large quantity of the fronds of the common polypody (Polypodium vulgare) in the crop of one which I opened in the winter of 1835. I am not aware that any species of fern has ever been found constituting part of the food of a ruminating quadruped or gallinaceous bird ; and if it should be found by experiment that the pheasant thrives on such substances, advantage might be taken of the circumstance.”

Thompson, in his “ Natural History of Ireland,” recounts the different varieties of food he observed in opening the crops of ten pheasants — from November to April inclusive. In seven he discovered the fruit of the hawthorn, with grain, small seeds, and peas. In one no less than thirty-seven acorns. Another had its crop nearly filled with grass ; only one contained any insects, the period of examination being the colder months of the year; in summer the pheasant is decidedly insectivorous ; all contained numerous fragments of stone. He also records that in the spring the yellow flowers of the pile wort (Ranunculus ficaria ) are always eaten in large quantity, as are the tuberous roots of the common silver weed (Potentilla anserina ), when they are turned up by cultivation. Mr. Thompson adds: “While spending the

month of January, 1849, at the sporting quarters of Ardimersy Cottage, Island of Islay, where pheasants are abundant, and attain a very large size — the ring-necked variety, too, being common — I observed that these birds, in the outer or wilder coverts, feed, during mild as well as severe weather, almost wholly on hazel nuts. In the first bird that was remarked to contain them, they were reckoned, and found to be twenty-four in number, all of full size and perfect ; in addition were many large insect larvae. Either oats or Indian corn being thrown out every morning before

FOOD OF THE PHEASANT.

the windows of the cottage for pheasants, I had an opportunity of observing their great preference of the former to the latter. I remarked a pheasant one day in Islay taking the sparrow’s place, by picking at horsedung on the road for undigested oats.”

Among the more singular articles of food that form part of the pheasant’s very varied dietary may be mentioned the spangles of the oak so common in the autumn on the under side of the leaves. These are galls caused by the presence of the eggs of a species of gall-fly (Neuropterus) which may be reared from the spangles if they are collected in the autumn, and kept in a cool and rather moist atmosphere during the winter. About the fall of the leaf these spangles begin to lose their flat mushroom-like form and red hirsute appearance, and become by degrees raised or bossed towards the middle, in consequence of the growth of the enclosed grub, which now becomes visible when the spangle is cut open. The perfect insect makes its appearance in April and May. Some few years since Mr. R. Carr Ellison published the following account of their being eagerly sought after and devoured by pheasants in a wild state : “ Just before the fall of the oak-leaf these spangles (or the greater part of them) become detached from it, and are scattered upon the ground under the trees in great profusion. Our pheasants delight in picking them up, especially from the surface of walks and roads, where they are most easily found. But, as they are quite visible even to human eyes, among the wet but undecayed leaves beneath the oaks, wherever pheasants have been turning them up, a store of winter food is evidently provided by these minute and dormant insects with their vegetable incasement, in addition to the earthworms, slugs, &c., which induce the pheasants to forage so industriously, by scratching up the layers of damp leaves in incipient decay which cover the woodland soil in winter. Not only have we found the spangles plentifully in the crops of pheasants that have been shot, but, on presenting leaves

PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES.

covered with them to the common and to the gold pheasants in confinement, we observed the birds to pick them up without a moment's hesitation, and to look eagerly for more."

The value of pheasants to the agriculturist is scarcely sufficiently appreciated ; the birds destroy enormous numbers of injurious insects — upwards of twelve hundred wireworms have been taken out of the crop of a pheasant ; if this number was consumed at a single meal, the total destroyed must be almost incredible. There is no doubt that insects are preferred to grain, one pheasant shot at the close of the shooting season had in its crop 726 wireworms, one acorn, one snail, nine berries, and three grains of wheat. Mr. F. Bond states that he took out of the crop of a pheasant 440 grubs of the crane fly or daddy longlegs — these larvae are exceedingly destructive to the roots of the grass on lawns and pastures. As another instance of their insectivorous character may be mentioned the complaint of Waterton, that they had extirpated the grasshoppers from Walton Park. They also occasionally eat molluscous animals. Mr. John Bishop, of Llandovery, records that he killed a pheasant on the coast of Islay whose crop was filled with the coloured snails abounding on the bents or grass stems on the coast.

Lord Lilford, in his magnificent volumes on the Birds of Northamptonshire," writes : “ The pheasant, where not preserved in unreasonable numbers, is a good friend to the farmer, from the enormous number of wireworms and other noxious insects which it devours, to say nothing of its liking for the roots of various weeds; but it would be absurd to deny that grain forms its favourite food, and a field of standing beans will, as is well known, draw pheasants for miles. It is very much the fashion to feed the birds with maize ; but, in our own opinion, the flesh of pheasants which have been principally fed upon this corn is very far inferior in flavour to that of those who have found their own living upon what the land may offer them."

Like their allies, the domestic fowls, pheasants are occa-

FOOD OF THE PHEASANT.

sionally carnivorous in their appetite. A correspondent writes : “ This morning my keeper brought me a pied cock pheasant, found dead (but still warm) in some standing barley. The bird was in finest condition, and showed no marks whatever, when plucked, of a violent death. On searching the gullet I extracted a short-tailed field mouse, which had doubtless caused death by strangulation.” And a similar instance was recorded by Mr. Hutton, of Northallerton. The Hon. and Rev. C. Bathurst, in a letter published in Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, vol. vii., p. 153, relates that Sir John Ogilvy saw a pheasant flying off with a common slowworm [A nguis fragilis) ; that this reptile does sometimes form part of the food of the pheasant is confirmed by Mr. J. E. Harting, who recounts, in his work on “ The Birds of Middlesex,” that “on examining the crop of a pied pheasant, shot in October, 1864, I was surprised to find in it a common slowworm [Anguis f ragilis) which measured eight inches in length. It was not quite perfect, having lost the tip of the tail ; otherwise, if whole, it would probably have measured nine inches.” In October, 1888, Mr. J. B. Eootner, of Tunbridge Wells, forwarded me a bottle containing three young vipers that were found with five others of equal size in the crop of a three parts grown hen pheasant, which he himself shot as a wild bird. Their length was slightly in excess of 7in., and the weight of the largest was exactly ioz. They were apparently young of the same brood. In his letter Mr. Footner recalled the fact that Sir Ivenelm Digby, who lived iu the time of Charles I., and married a lady of great beauty, used to feed his wife on capons fatted on young adders, which were believed to preserve beauty. Sir Ivenelm Digby, whose portrait may be seen in Vandyke’s Iconography, was remarkable as a charlatan, who proposed to cure wounds by applying a sympathetic powder to the weapons they were caused by, and who published a treatise on “Secrets pour la Beaute des Dames,” from which the viper treatment is extracted.

PILE A SANTS FOP COVERTS AND AVIALIES.

The structure of the digestive organs of the pheasant is perfectly adapted to the assimilation of the food on which it feeds. The sharp edge of the upper mandible of the bill is admirably fitted for cutting off portions of the vegetables on which it partly subsists, and the whole organ is equally well adapted for securing the various articles of its extensive dietary. The food, when swallowed, passes into a very capacious membranous crop, situated under the skin at the fore part of the breast. From this organ portions gradually pass into the true digestive stomach, or proventiculus ; this is a short tube, an inch and a half long, connecting the crop with the gizzard. Small as this organ may be, it is one of extreme importance, as the numerous small glands of which it mainly consists secrete the acid digestive or gastric fluid necessary to the digestion of the food ; and in cases in which pheasants or fowls are fed on too great an abundance of animal food, or any highly-stimulating diet, this organ becomes inflamed, and death is frequently the result. From the proventiculus the food passes into the gizzard, which is lined with a dense thick skin ; in its cavity the food is ground down to a pulp, the process being assisted by the presence of the numerous small stones and angular pieces of gravel, &c., swallowed by the bird. The food, thus ground to a pulp, passes on into the intestines, which are no less than six feet in length ; in the upper part of this long canal it is mingled with the bile formed in the liver, the pancreatic fluid, &c., and, as it passes from one extremity to the other, the nourishment for the support of the animal is extracted ; this being greatly aided by the operation of the two ca?ca, or blind intestines, which are very large in all the birds of this group.

The flight of the pheasant is strong, and is performed by rapid and frequent beats of the wing, the tail at the same time being expanded. The force with which the bird flies may be inferred from the result which has not unfrequently occurred when it has come into contact with thick plate-glass

FLIGHT OF THE PHEASANT.

in windows. A correspondent states : u A few days ago, a cock pheasant rose about three hundred yards from my house and flew against the centre of a plate glass window, smashing it into a thousand fragments. The glass was 3ft. 8in. by 3ft. 4in., and -i-in. thick ; and such was the force of the concussion that not a single piece remained six inches square. A slight snow on the ground reudered the window more than usually a mirror reflecting the outer landscape. It is needless to say the bird was killed instantaneously. Two hen pheasants had on previous occasions been killed in the same way, but the glass was not damaged.” Mr. G. A. Hackett, of Pailton House, Rugby, also wrote as follows : “1 was much astonished to-day, at about two o'clock, by hearing a loud crash of glass in my smoking-room, and on going there I found a cock pheasant dead on the floor close to the window, and the plate of glass, which is 4ft. by 3ft. 6in., and ^in. thick, in thousands of fragments. I am certain no blow from a man could have in like manner demolished the glass. The pheasant was a ring-necked, last year’s bird, and weighed nearly 31b.” These instances occured in the day-time. Sometimes the birds are attracted by a light, as in the following cases : “ On a very rough night in January, a hen pheasant flew through the hall window at Merthyr Manor, Bridgend, attracted by a light inside.” And the following incident is related as occurring in a village not far from Bangor, on the banks of a river on the opposite side of which is a plantation well stocked with pheasants : “ One stormy night there sat in a room of a small public, which had a window facing the plantation, six or seven men enjoying their pipes and beer, when all of a sudden crash went the window, out went the candle, and out rushed the men in great consternation. On examining the room a splendid cock pheasant was found under the table.” The wings, considered with reference to the size and weight of the bird, are short and small; from the secondary quills being nearly as long as the primary, they are very rounded in form, the third and fourth primary feathers being

PHEASANTS FOE COVERTS AND AVIARIES.

tlie longest. Tlie wings are not adapted to a very prolonged flight, although the denizens of the wilder districts in the country fly with a speed and cover distances that are unknown to the over-fattened birds in our preserves. Long flights are, however, not altogether beyond the jnowers of the bird. One of unusual length was recorded bv Mr. J. Cordeaux, of Great Cotes, Ulceby, who states that “ when shooting in the marshes on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber, near Grimsby, a man who works on the sea embankment came to say that two pheasants had just flown over from the Yorkshire side, alighting within a few feet of where he was working among the rough grass on the bank. On going to the spot indicated, I at once found and shot them ; they were both hens, and in very good condition. The Humber at this place from shore to shore is nearly four miles across. There was a strong northerly breeze blowing at the time, so that they would cross before the wind, or with the wind a little aslant. I have occasionally found pheasants in the marshes, and near the embankment, which I was sure must have come across, but had no direct evidence of the fact.”

The comparatively small size of the wings necessitates their being moved with great force and velocity, and consequently the moving powers or muscles of the breast are very large and well developed, taking their origin from the deep keel on the breast bone. The tail is long, and tapers to a point ; it is composed of eighteen straight pointed feathers.

The pheasant, like most of its congeners, is a terrestrial bird, seeking its food, making its nest, and rearing its young upon the surface of the ground. Its legs, like those of all true rasorial or scratching birds, are strong and muscular, consequently it is capable of running with great speed. The strong blunt claws are admirably adapted for scratching seeds and tuberous roots from the ground, or worms and larva3 from beneath fallen leaves.

Though seldom taking voluntarily to the water, the

SWIMMING OF PHEASANTS pheasant is quite capable of swimming, as is proved by the following instances. A well-known game preserver writes : “ When out walking to-day with my keeper, near the end of a long pond running under one of my woods, we fancied that we heard some young pheasants calling in the high grass. On going up to the place where we had heard the noise, an old hen pheasant got up and flew over the pond, which is about eighteen or nineteen feet wide at this place and about four feet deep. To our astonishment one of the young birds ran down to the water, went into it, and swam safely to the other side after its mother. The young birds could not have been more than fourteen days old.” Old birds will also voluntarily swim across rivers, as in the following instance : “ While flogging the waters of the Usk, I saw a sight that struck me with astonishment. A fine cock pheasant was walking about on the bank of the river, here quite thirty yards broad and running at the rate of four knots an hour. On our approach he quietly took to the water like a duck, and, after floating down stream a few yards, boldly struck across, and, swimming high and with great ease, reached the bank nearly opposite to the spot whence he set out.” And other similar cases are on record, thus — Mr. Donald Campbell, of Dunstafforage, Oban, states : “ Six pheasants, five cocks and a hen, attempted to fly across Loch Etive from one of the Ardchattan coverts on the north side of the loch, which near that spot varies from half a mile to a mile in width. When about half-way across one of them was seen either to fall or alight on the water, and its example was immediately followed by the other five. Fortunately, the son of the Ardchattan gamekeeper, who was in a boat on the loch at the time, observed the occurrence, and rowed to the spot ; but as he had some distance to go, by the time he reached the birds they were very much exhausted and half drowned, and were drifting helplessly with the tide. He got them into the boat and took them ashore, and, after being well dried and placed in warm boxes near a good fire, they all eventually recovered.

PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES.

The day was cold and frosty, and there was a sligdit fog on the water.” When wounded and dropped into the water, pheasants swim with facility, and some instances are on record of their diving beneath the surface and rising at some distance.

As the breeding season approaches, the crow of the male, resembling the imperfect attempts of a young fowl, may be heard distinctly. It is followed, and not preceded as in the game cock, by the clapping of the wings ; the pheasant and the domestic cock invariably reversing the order of the succession of these two actions. Like the domestic fowl, pheasants will also answer any loud noise, occurring either by day or night ; they have been noticed replying regularly to the signal gun at Shorncliffe, which is fired at sunrise and sunset, and this in coverts situated some miles distant ; and the practice with the heavy guns at the various military stations will often cause a chorus of “ cucketing ” in all the coverts for a great distance round.

The display of the plumage during courtship by the males varies in almost every species of gallinaceous birds. That of the pheasant was carefully described by the late Mr. T. W. Wood, in an interesting article on the Courtship of Birds.” Pheasants seem to possess no other mode of display than the lateral or one-sided method. In this the males disport themselves so as to exhibit to the females a greater number of their beautiful feathers than could otherwise be seen at one view. The peculiar attitude assumed by the male of the common species is correctly shown in the vignette on page 20 at the end of this chapter; the wing of the side nearest the female is partly opened and depressed, precisely in the same manner as performed by the male of the common fowl, and, in addition, the tail is expanded, and the upper surface turned towartls the same side, whilst the bright vermilion skin around the eye is greatly extended, and the little purple aigrettes erected. Singular modifications of this sexual display of the plumage occur in the Argus and Golden

NESTING OF THE PHEASANT.

Pheasant and other species, which will be noticed in the chapters relating to those birds.

In a state of nature there is little doubt that the pheasant is polygamous. The males are armed with spurs, with which they fight, the stronger driving away the weaker, and the most vigorous propagate their kind.

The nest of the female is usually a simple hollow scraped in the ground. After depositing her eggs (usually about eight or nine in number) she is deserted by the male, and the task of incubation and rearing the young depends on her alone. The eggs vary in colour from a greenish brown to a greyish green ; in size they are, on the average, an inch and five-sixths in length, by an inch and five-twelfths in width. The period of incubation is twenty-four days.