Sir, Simon Mayes of the World Pheasant Association says that Prezza the Reeve’s pheasant may have escaped from captivity (report, April 6). Not necessarily.
Members of my family going back three generations have kept and bred Reeve’s. They have been at liberty in our countryside woodlands for more than a century, along with other exotic pheasants such as the Golden (Chrysolophus pictus), Lady Amherst’s (Chrysolophus amherstaei) and Silver (Lophena nycthenera).
It is illegal to kill them now, but over previous decades right-minded sportsmen have treated them as game, although always with respect for their conservation.
Yours faithfully,
MAX SANDERSON,
(Aviculturist), Brook House,
Tinkers Lane, Blackboys,
Uckfield, East Sussex TN22 4EU.
April 8.