76 SHOOTING, 



case, in tlie trae sense of tlie word. It would be one of the 

 dullest and most uninteresting acts of liis life ; but where he has 

 to seek, and to find, and to ramble for miles through a thickly- 

 wooded or moorish country, tliere is pleasurable excitement 

 produced, and this is the creative and sustaining principle of pure 

 sport, and the true source of all the enjoyments which the pursuit 

 of wild animals can confer on man. It is to wander about; the 

 hopes entertained here, and the fears there; the disappointments 

 met with on the eve of realized advantages, that constitute the 

 current of exhilarating feeling and lively sentiment, which vre 

 connect with the healthy_ and natural indulgence in field sports 

 generally. It is a bad spirit for a real sportsman to cherish to be 

 always craving for great success, and to be perpetually out of 

 humour both with liimself and every one about him, if he does 

 not get_ his bag sooner and better filled than all his neighbours and 

 competitors. There isan exclusive and selfish bitterness lying at 

 the root of all such trains of thought and the habits they engen- 

 der; and the_ best receipt for eradicating this pernicious principle 

 is, to look lightly and carelessly on the sport, and to make it 

 a means, and not an end. 



Indeed, we know from experience, as well as from what is daily 

 passing around us, that itis unpossible_ to keep large collections of 

 pheasants from depredations. The slightest noise disturbs them 

 m the night-time, and induces them to crow ; and this discovers 

 the places in which they are congregated, so that their destruction 

 is almost inevitable. 



Pheasants are subject to considerable mutations and ailments. 

 One of the most singular of its changes is, that in certain cases, 

 and in certain years of its existence, the female bird puts on the 

 appearance of the male. This curious fact engaged the late Dr. 

 John Hunter in a series pf experiments with a view to ascertain 

 whether there was in reahty any transfer of gender accompanied by 

 this change of plumage and outward appearance. Eut he fomid 

 no organic change whatever. The diseases these birds are subject 

 to are but little understood. It is said, that they die off suddenly 

 about the time they are throwing off then- crest and tail feathers, 

 without any apparent ilhiess, having an abundance of food, of Avhicli 

 ants and then: eggs form a part. Good air, exercise, and even 

 choice grass plots, will not stay the ravages of the complaint. It 

 has been recommended by way of cure, that as in Asiatic countries, 

 of which the bird is a native, it lives very much on aromatic plants, 

 aU remedial measures should take this cu'cumstance into considera- 

 tion. Spices and stimulants are recommended, with nutritious diet, 

 chopped eggs, and shred beef. Pepper pods, and other aromatics, 

 are likewise used, in certain small quantities. In spite, however, of 

 all care, great mortality sometimes prevails among- the pheasants of 

 particular locaUties. They seem to be afllicted with some epidemic 

 distemper, which baffles all the skill of gamekeepers, and the 

 erudite specidations of the natui'alist. 



