THE PHEASAIsT. 161 



farmer's daughter, where he has the right of 

 shooting, ought to rear him fifty or a hundred 

 birds every year, if he has only ten acres of 

 cover. They are a beautiful ornament to our 

 parks and pleasure-grounds ; and a never-tiring 

 amusement on every winter's morning used to 

 be to watch a party of all sorts, gold, silver, pied, 

 Chinese, and ring-necked, which lived in per- 

 fect freedom, and assembled regularly for their 

 breakfast within thirty yards of our windows. 

 The gold pheasants used to arrive, escorting 

 their hens with great pomp and ceremony. 

 There is no vainer bird than a gold pheasant, 

 and the way he is always displaying his beauti- 

 ful neck-feathers to the hen is most amusing. 

 Then a party of cocks would come from some 

 distance, with a great amount of crowing and 

 fluttering of wings. These were all-important 

 people — heavy swells, in fact. Then a silver 

 cock would stroll calmly up. He is a most 

 aristocratic bird, but often gave offence to the 

 others, and was probably soon engaged in an 



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