PHEASANTS AND PEACOCKS. 281 



string to the hen's leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all 

 night. She should be placed there before sunset, and, if she 

 falls down, she must be perseveringly replaced, till she be- 

 come contented with her situation; then the young birds will 

 follow the hen, and perch with her, and in a few days will 

 shift for themselves. If regularly fed, they will remain near 

 any particular spot, and frequent a lawn or pleasure-ground 

 as familiarly, and almost as fearlessly, as common poultry. An 

 ingenious feeding-machine has been made, by which the grain 

 may not only be kept dry, but reserved for the sole use of the 

 Pheasants, or, at least, the larger sort of fowls : as the lid, 

 covering a trough containing the seed, opens and shuts by the 

 weight of the Pheasant hopping on or off a perch connected 

 with a crank. 



Pheasants have been considered, and with some reason, 

 foolish birds, easily taken by every variety of snare; but, 

 together with the Peacocks, they were, nevertheless, probably 

 on account of their beauty, not only highly esteemed in ancient 

 times, but viewed with a sort of superstitious respect ; so 

 much so, that, by the heathen Romans, those who first served 

 them up at entertainments were deemed guilty of a sort of 

 impiety to their idol-gods ; and even when they were after- 

 wards introduced as food, they were never used, even by the 

 emperors, except on the most solemn occasions. In after-times, 

 the Christians, who too often adopted the customs of their 

 heathenish predecessors, paid an almost equal respect to these 

 birds. Thus we find so serious a writer as St. Jerome giving 

 directions for boiling a Pheasant, so that the form of the bird 

 might be completely preserved. Prom the table, Pheasants 

 and Peacocks became most fashionable and honoured addi- 

 tions to the toilet ; historians telling us, that the most splendid 

 present one of the Popes sent to Pepin, one of the earliest 

 kings of France, was a mantle, embroidered with the feathers 

 of the latter ; and the richest furniture in the apartments of 

 the nobles in the Middle Ages, was painted or inlaid in such a 

 manner as to represent a Peacock's tail, spread out and studded 

 with eyes. 



At table, they were never introduced, except on the most 



