78 THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 



bred, natives of China, introduced into Europe, from the banks 

 of the Phasis, a river in Chalchis, now the Bloni, in Asia Minor. 



We are told that when Croesus, King of Lydia, was seated on 

 his throne, adorned with royal magnificence, and all the bar- 

 barous pomp of eastern splendour, he asked Solon had he ever 

 beheld anything so fine ! The Greek philosopher, noway moved 

 by the objects before him, or taking a pride in his native sim- 

 plicity, replied, that, after having seen the beautiful plumage of 

 the pheasant, he could be astonished at no other finery ; and 

 Heliogobalus, in his ostentation, is said to have fed the lions of 

 his menagerie with them. 



The pheasant is not only beautiful to the eye, but most delicate 

 when served to the table. Its flesh is considered the greatest 

 dainty. When the old physicians spoke of the wholesomeness 

 of any viands, they made their comparison with the flesh of the 

 pheasant. No matter with what care they have been bred or 

 propagated, they disdain the protection of man, and shelter in 

 the thickest covers and remotest forests. All others of the do- 

 mestic fowl submit to the protection of man, but the pheasant 

 never has, preferring the scanty produce of acorns and berries 

 to the abundant supply of a farm-yard. The hen pheasant, in 

 a wild state, hatches and brings up her brood with patience, vigi- 

 lance, and courage, but when kept tame, she never sits well. A 

 substitute must be found in the clean-legged bantam, the larger 

 fowl being too heavy for the chicks. Her time of laying is about 

 the middle of April, and if in an aviary, the eggs should be im- 

 mediately removed, and placed in dry bran or chaff, until you 

 wish to set them. They are about twenty-four days coming out. 

 After the young ones appear, they are not to be fed for twenty- 

 four hours, after which give them hard-boiled egg, chopped fine, 

 and mixed with oatmeal, ant-mould, cheese, curd, lettuce cut fine, 

 white flour wetted with sweet milk, bread crumbs, bread and 

 milk, with very limited drink. Be particular to preserve them 

 from cold and moisture. You will have to confine the hen, so 

 as to prevent her eating their food ; and you will have to provide 

 them with maggots. In the neighbourhood of Paris, where they 

 rear quantities of young fowl, for the market, they prepare what 

 they call a vermineer, by digging a hole in a dry, sandy spot, in 

 which they place a piece of flesh, which soon gets into maggots, 

 with which they feed the young birds. My own vermineer is of 

 much simpler and economic construction. I have an earthen 

 pan, about two feet deep, and one foot diameter, into which I 

 put some bran ; on this I place a piece of liver or carrion. I 



