ONTARIO PHEASANTS.
The pheasant in general gives the most remarkable example of successful transplanting ; and it is not surprising that the example is being followed in fresh places. At the moment the Canadians are maintaining a determined experiment to naturalize the bird in Ontario. Experience so far suggests that many parts of the country are too cold for them in most winters. The pheasant is not a very tender bird in essential respects and can certainly endure wide variations of tem- perature. He will flourish in high woods or, as in West Africa, in low scrub, where he becomes a running rather than a flying animal, like the unfortunate Dodos of Maur- itius. It is often forgotten that pheasants are peculiarly fond of certain sorts of marsh land. But they are not among the best foragers for food and need a great deal, as all game preservers who breed artificially know to their cost. The chief enemy of the Ontario pheasants is hunger resulting from a frozen ground. During this winter they have been kept alive by grain and other food, much of it dropped from aeroplanes. The stress of the birds in this last hard winter probably means that they are not proper subjects for naturalization, at least in the higher country. A better subject would perhaps be that robust variety of the willow grouse which is the chief and best game bird of Newfoundland.
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