There are many species of Pheasant, but there is no obvious difference in their habits. We shall, therefore, content ourselves with giving an account of the Common Pheasant ([Fig. 170]), which is the species most widely spread through Europe.
The introduction of the Pheasant into Europe dates at a very early age, if it is true that it goes back to the expedition of the Argonauts, about 1300 B.C. The companions of Jason met with this bird on the banks of the Phasis, in Colchis, whence its name is derived. Struck with its beauty, they carried it back with them into Greece, whence it gradually spread over a large portion of the European continent. The Greeks, believing it to be indigenous to the banks of the Caucasian River, called it the "Bird of Phasis;" subsequently, however, it was ascertained that it also inhabited the whole of the South of Asia (China, Cochin-China, Bengal, &c.).
Fig. 170.—Common Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus, Linn.).
At the present day this bird is found in France, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, and even Sweden.
Pheasants prefer wooded slopes or marshy plains. Their food is of a varied character, and is composed of grain, berries, worms, insects, and snails. They are shy and timid in their nature, taking flight at the slightest indication of danger. They live in solitude up to the breeding season, when the male birds select their mates, for they are polygamous. On these occasions they engage in such desperate conflicts that the weaker bird is often killed.
Fig. 171.—Golden Pheasants (Phasianus pictus, Linn.).
The hen Pheasant makes her nest on the ground, in the midst of some dense thicket, and lays from twelve to twenty eggs, which require twenty-four days to hatch.
The mother does not manifest that care and solicitude for her young which are so marked in the majority of other birds; she does not even specially recognise her own progeny, for she pays equal attention to all the young of her race that surround her. We must not, however, expect to find much maternal love in a bird which does not shrink from breaking her own eggs to gratify an unnatural appetite.