Habits of the Pheasant. 311 



gun ; the report of which is sure to bring an attentive keeper 

 up to the scene of their night's diversion. 



To the illegal possession of the pheasant, alone, may be 

 traced the cause of all the sanguinary nocturnal conflicts 

 between the poachers and those who are appointed to watch 

 for its safety. The poacher is well aware that he cannot 

 procure pheasants without the aid of a gun ; and he knows, 

 at the same time, that the report of that gun will betray 

 him, and bring up the watchers, against whom he would 

 have no chance, single-handed. Wherefore, in order that 

 he may come off victorious, he musters an overwhelming 

 force of tinkers, cobblers, masons, smiths, and labourers, 

 armed with bludgeons, and, perhaps, here and there a rusty 

 gun. Taking the precaution to get well primed with beer, 

 off they go, fully bent on having every thing their own way. 

 The pheasants fall ; the watchers come up ; oaths and curses 

 are poured out, and a desperate fray commences. Here are 

 furnished, work important for the nearest magistrate, profit 

 to his clerk, expense to the county, and practice for Mr. 

 Ketch. Let it be here observed, that the unlawful capture 

 of the hare and the partridge (which are really ferce natura) 

 does not produce similar work of mischief. These are taken 

 with nets and snares. The fewer poachers employed, the 

 more certain is their success. A number of men would only 

 do harm, and mar the plan of capture. So silently is this 

 mode of poaching carried on, that the owner of the soil is 

 not aware of the loss he is about to sustain in the plunder of 

 his game. When his hares and partridges are actually on 

 their way to the dealer's shop, he, " good easy man," may 

 fancy that they are merely on a visit to his neighbour's 

 manor, or that the fox and the polecat may have made free 

 with them. Not so with regard to the capture of the phea- 

 sant. The mansion is sometims beset; guns are fired close 

 to the windows ; females are frightened into hysterics ; and, 

 if the owner sallies forth to repel the marauders, his recep- 

 tion is often the most untoward and disagreeable that can 

 well be imagined. 



Having now treated of the pheasant, and the mode which 

 is adopted for its destruction, 1 will draw upon the reader's 

 time a little longer, by proposing a plan for its propagation 

 and protection. 



Pheasants would certainly be delightful ornaments to the 

 lawn of the country gentleman, were it not for the annoying 

 idea that, any night, from November to May, he runs the risk 

 of getting a broken head, if he ventures out to disturb the 

 sport of those who have assembled to destroy them. There 



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