Habits of the Pheasant. 309 



contains about twelve. [On the pheasant's precaution to 

 conceal its nest and eggs on leaving them for a short time, 

 Mr. Waterton has incidentally communicated most interest- 

 ing information, not repeated in this paper, in his description 

 of the " Habits of the Carrion Crow," p. 212— 214. — J. Z>.] 



Notwithstanding the proximity of the pheasant to the 

 nature of the barn-door fowl, still it has that within it which 

 baffles every attempt on our part to render its domestication 

 complete. What I allude to is, a most singular innate timidity, 

 which never fails to show itself on the sudden and abrupt 

 appearance of an object. I spent some months in trying to 

 overcome this timorous propensity in the pheasant, but I 

 failed completely in the attempt. The young birds, which 

 had been hatched under a domestic hen soon became very 

 tame, and would even receive food from the hand, when it 

 was offered cautiously to them. They would fly up to the 

 window, and would feed in company with the common poul- 

 try. But, if any body approached them unawares, off they 

 went to the nearest cover, with surprising velocity. They 

 remained in it till all was quiet, and then returned with their 

 usual confidence. Two of them lost their lives in the water, 

 by the unexpected appearance of a pointer, while the barn- 

 door fowls seemed scarcely to notice the presence of the 

 intruder. The rest took finally to the woods, at the com- 

 mencement of the breeding season. This particular kind 

 of timidity, which does not appear in our domestic fowls, 

 seems to me to oppose the only, though, at the same time, 

 an insurmountable, bar to our final triumph over the phea- 

 sant. After attentive observation, I can perceive nothing 

 else, in the habits of the bird, to serve as a clue by which 

 we may be enabled to trace the cause of failure in the many 

 attempts which have been made to invite it to breed in our 

 yards, and retire to rest with the barn-door fowl and 

 turkey. 



Though a preserve of pheasants is an unpopular thing, 

 still I am satisfied, in my own mind, that the bird cannot 

 exist in this country without one. At the same time, I am 

 aware that a preserve may be overdone. Thus, hen phea- 

 sants are reserved for a day of slaughter, under the appella- 

 tion of a battu, the regular supply of the market is endangered, 

 the diversion has the appearance of cruelty, and no good end 

 seems to be answered. It exposes the preservers of pheasants, 

 in general, to the animadversions of an angry press, which 

 are greedily read, and long remembered, by those whose situ- 

 ation in life precludes them from joining in the supposed 

 diversion. However ardently I may wish to protect the 



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