THE PHEASANT. 107 
and by those going in search of them, his wildfowl 
would never desert the pool till their day of mi- 
gration arrived; and his pheasants (except for the 
purpose of incubation, and then in no great quan- 
tities) would seldom rove beyond the protected 
enclosure. 
The teal and wigeons stay with me till the last 
week in April; long after the pochards and the 
main flocks of mallards have winged their flight to 
northern polar regions; and a white male pheasant 
has taken up his abode here, for seven years, with- 
out having been once seen to wander half a mile 
from the house. 
Birds thus protected have very different habits from 
those which are exposed to the caprice and perse- 
cutions of man. When the ornithologist pays at- 
tention to them, in their safe retreat, where they 
can follow, without molestation, the impulse of that 
instinct which has been so bountifully given to them, 
he will have great cause to suspect that there is 
many an error, and many a false conclusion, in the 
works which we have at present, on the habits and 
economy of the feathered race. These errors are, 
no doubt, quite unintentional on the part of the 
writers on British ornithology; and can only be 
corrected by great care, and a frequent personal 
attendance at those places where birds are encou- 
raged and befriended. 
