RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 191 



velty ; and Heliogobalus in his ostentation is said to 

 have fed the lions of his menagerie with them. The 

 Pheasant may be said to have been originally re- 

 stricted to the Asiatic continent, extending over the 

 greater part of it, and reaching to China and the 

 confines of Tartary. Now, however, it is much 

 more extended, and its facility of domestication, and 

 hardy constitution, suit it for almost every country. 

 It is even abundant in Siberia, where the inhabitants 

 adorn their caps with its plume ; and one of the 

 Governors of St Helena succeeded in almost natu- 

 ralizing it to the more barren soil of that island. 

 In the greater part of Europe it is completely na- 

 turalized ; and we have heard of its introduction to 

 North America, where it will certainly thrive. We 

 are not aware of any similar attempt having been 

 made in either Africa or New Holland. In the 

 latter we should have little doubt of its success; but 

 the climate of Africa we should consi'der as one of 

 the most unpropitious for its establishment. We 

 are in greater uncertainty of the time of its intro- 

 duction into Great Britain than of its original dis- 

 covery. They are mentioned in Echard's History 

 of England as worth only 4d. in 1299. Two hun- 

 dred made part of the great feast of Archbishop 

 Neville, about the middle of 1 400 ; and in the re- 

 gulations of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, begun 

 in 1512, we find their value increased to 16^d. each. 

 Upon the Scottish border and high Cheviot rang^e 



