Familiarity, goes the old saying, breeds contempt. I’m not suggesting that any sportsman has contempt for the pheasant, but I’m sure that when we lift our gun to a rocketing cock, we see just a pheasant, not one of the most resplendent and beautiful birds in the world. Look carefully at a mature cock, his plumage a stunning mixture of gold, bronze and black, his face as bright as a master’s coat, and you appreciate that this amazing bird is simply far too exotic to be British. Pheasants may have lived in Britain since the time of the Norman Conquest, but they’re never going to be thought of as native.
In sharp contrast, there’s nothing in the least bit exotic about a brown hare, for it looks every inch a true Brit. However, research has shown that is as
