RED COCHINS.
The wings in the typical Cochins are so short as to be useless.
The quail lays from nine to fifteen eggs in a feeble apology for a nest. It is said that the curious metallic note "clic-lic-lic" gave origin to the Spanish castanet, for these birds are much esteemed in Spain, being kept in cages for the pleasure their notes afford.
There are five or six other species of quail closely related to the above. The British bird enjoys an enormous range, being found almost everywhere in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The so-called American Quails—some forty species in number—are generally regarded as belonging to a distinct group.
That ornament to all rural scenery, the Pheasant, is said to have been introduced from the banks of the river Phasis, in Colchis, Transcaucasia, by the Romans—at least, the original form of pheasant was. Late during the eighteenth century a Japanese and a Chinese form were introduced, and these have freely interbred with the original form, so that pure-bred specimens of any of the three are rare.
The speed of a pheasant on the wing in full flight has been estimated at thirty-eight miles an hour. Occasionally pheasants will take to the water, and are said to swim well.
The number of pheasants reared by hand at the present day is prodigious. In 1883, Professor Newton tells us, 134,000 pheasants' eggs were sold from one estate in Norfolk, while 9,700 fully grown birds were killed upon it. In olden times pheasants were taken in snares or nets, by hawking, and by the cross-bow; but on the introduction of guns these methods were superseded.
Yet another form of pheasant has been introduced into Britain of late years. This is Reeves's Pheasant, a truly magnificent bird, with a tail fully 5 feet long in adult males. These birds also interbreed with the more common forms, but not freely.
Photo by C. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.