l8o PHEASANT. 



Pheasant, forsake the country, come to town ; 

 I'll warrant thee a place beneath the crown, 

 — No, not to roost upon the throne, would I 

 Renounce the woods, the mountains, and the sky. 



Montgomery— 5i?-c?s. 



The Pheasant was introduced into England many centuries 

 ago, and by the care of the landowners, and the protection of the 

 Game Laws, has become thoroughly naturalized in the British 

 Isles. The history and the early notices of the Pheasant, as 

 given by Tegetmeier, Yarrell, and other writers, may be thus briefly 

 stated. 



The common Pheasant is a native of the wet, marshy forests 

 on the shores of the Caspian Sea, the river valleys of the Caucasus, 

 the neighbourhood of Astrachan, and the northern portions of 

 Asia Minor, and it is still to be found there in abundance. Mytho- 

 logical tradition attributes its first discovery to Jason and the 

 Argonauts (b.c. 1200). He found it on the banks of the river 

 Phasis, in Colchis, and hence it has got its generic and specific 

 names. This classic stream is the modern Rion which flows into 

 the Black Sea, near the town of Poti, whence the railway now 

 runs to Tiflis. From hence the Pheasant has been introduced, at 

 this or at some other unknown period, to nearly every country in 

 Europe. It is believed to have been known to the Athenians at a 

 very early period. The Romans received it from the Greeks, and 

 they are thought to have introduced it into Britain, as it is known 

 that they did the Fallow Deer. 



The most ancient record of its occurrence in Great Britain is 

 contained in one of the early manuscripts at the British Museum, 

 published by Bishop Stubbs in 1861. The date of the manuscript 

 is circa 1177, and it contains the bill of fare drawn up by Harold 

 for each monk in the Canon's household at Waltham, from the 

 feast of St. Michael to Ash Wednesday, a.d. 1059. Besides 

 Geese and Fowls, it mentions twelve Blackbirds, two Magpies, 

 two Partridges, and " unus Phasianus " : thus showing that the 

 Pheasant had become naturalized in England before the Norman 

 invasion. 



