A SCRUB PHEASANT The scrub, a mass of blackberry, dog-rose,
gorse, and stunted and wind-bowed larch, is a feeding ground for all sorts of bird both large and small. The hawthorn attracts berry-eaters but tits find insects, eggs and larva:, while the underbrush shelters a cock pheasant who picks what he wants from the ground and finds the place to his liking. He flies up there in mid-dfternoon. Last spring it was noticed that the territory was coveted by another cock pheasant who had taken a fancy to the place, and there was an exciting episode when the two faced each other in full view on the edge of the rock, where they postured like fighting cocks with wings dOwn and necks slowly and menacingly thrust out. Do pheasant cocks fight with their spurs ripping? They may do on occasions but this battle. didn't reach that stage. After long inspection of each other, one of the contestants slowly retracted his outstretched neck, lowered his ruff of hackles, withdrew a fraction as he pulled in his wings and seemed to cower. The victor didn't crow, but his head rose and his neck arched while the vanquished bird turned and faded into the brush. That the defeated cock was leaving the area seemed certain, and ever since only one cock has been present and not even a hen pheasant has been seen to accompany him.
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