THE PHEASANT: ECOLOGY, MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION. By David Hill and Peter Robertson.

1988 1st edition. Large 8vo (165 x 240mm). Ppxii,281. B/w photographs, illustrations, bibliography. Dark red boards, spine titled in gilt.

A scholarly, comprehensive, but very readable, study of the ecology of the pheasant and its practical implications for gamekeepers and managers of shoots. Chapters include: Introduction - native range and subspecies, introductions outside its native range; Study areas and techniques; During the winter - family groups, diet and starvation, segregation of the sexes, group size and structure, habitat selection, habitat and overwinter survival, predation; Finding mates - post-winter dispersal, males territories and aggression, harems, courtship, choosing and mate; Clutches - selecting a place to nest, home ranges of laying females, laying dates and the numbers of eggs, dumping eggs in the nests of others, behaviour during incubation period, predation during nesting, renesting; Broods; Reared pheasants in the wild - techniques for rearing, releasing strategy and woodlands, releasing, survival, overwinter and pre-breeding ecology, breeding success of hand-reared birds, nature or nurture?; Shooting and its effect on populations; Management - past present and future, management in the USA; Bridging the gap - survey of landowners, the popular conservation movement, economics of woodland management for pheasants, woodland conservation, conservation in cereal fields, winter feeding, conservation conflicts, site safeguards and game conservation.