Originally the Pheasant was an inhabitant of Asia Minor but has been
by degrees introduced into many countries, where its beauty of form,
plumage, and the delicacy of its flesh made it a welcome visitor. The
Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful species, about which little is known
in its wild state, but in captivity it is pugnacious. It requires much
shelter and plenty of food, and the breed is to some degree artificially
kept up by the hatching of eggs under domestic hens and feeding them in
the coop like ordinary chickens, until they are old and strong enough to
get their own living.
The food of this bird is extremely varied. When young it is generally
fed on ants' eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food, but when it is full
grown it is possessed of an accommodating appetite and will eat many
kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It will also eat beans, peas, acorns,
berries, and has even been known to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the
berry.
This Pheasant loves the ground, runs with great speed, and always
prefers to trust to its legs rather than to its wings. It is crafty, and
when alarmed it slips quickly out of sight behind a bush or through a
hedge, and then runs away with astonishing rapidity, always remaining
under cover until it reaches some spot where it deems itself safe. The
male is not domestic, passing an independent life during a part of the
year and associating with others of its own sex during the rest of the
season.
The nest is very rude, being merely a heap of leaves and grass on the
ground, with a very slight depression. The eggs are numerous, about
eleven or twelve, and olive brown in color. In total length, though they
vary considerably, the full grown male is about three feet. The female
is smaller in size than her mate, and her length a foot less.
The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly interesting bird aside from his
beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there being few of the species more
attractive.