So last year about this time, I remember driving to the base and thinking that a truck had dropped a load of brown chickens with pretty feathers one-by-one along the side of the road and they died on the roadside after getting hit. So this year, same time, same route, I see another bunch of the same bird feathers (which I now know to be pheasant after visiting a few pheasantries - the kids are fascinated by pheasants) all along the side of the road. This gets me to wondering why pheasants choose September to commit mass suicide on the British roads. Can anyone tell me why this phenomenon occurs this time of year?
I am not imagining this either. There are nowhere near the number of bird carcasses on the roads at any other time of the year AND as I was stopped at a traffic light, a pheasant ran in front of the car AND as I was driving down a very busy double lane A road (imagine a two-lane Rt. 50), a pheasant ran in front of a bunch of cars ahead of me. He crossed safely (this time) which would lead Darwin to deduce that natural selection is working and the genes for smarter street-wise pheasants will be propagated hopefully, but obviously natural selection is not occurring at a quick enough rate as proven by the number of pheasants on the roadside!
Then I start thinking about the sheer number of pheasants hiding in the British grasses. If this many find an untimely death on the roads or at the business end of a shotgun, then how many survive? Bazillions has to be the answer. They must be the cousin to free-range chickens except they are prettier than most chickens albeit just as stupid. Now for a brilliant segue from chickens: Why did the pheasant cross the road? Because it was September in Britain.
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