172 THE PHEASANT- MALAY FOWL. 



they visited the country, really could keep poachers in awe. 

 He informs us of his experience, thus : u Man has tried to 

 effect a violence with the Cock Pheasant, to make it breed 

 with a foreign species ; and the experiments have in some de- 

 gree succeeded, though they required great care and attention. 

 A young Cock Pheasant was shut in a close place, where but 

 a faint light glimmered through the roof : some young Pullets 

 were selected, whose plumage resembled the most that of the 

 Pheasant, and were put in a crib adjoining that of the Cock 

 Pheasant, and separated from it only by a grate, of which the 

 ribs were so close as to admit no more than the head and neck 

 of these birds. The Cock Pheasant was thus accustomed to 

 see these females, and even to live with them, because the food 

 was thrown into the crib only. When they had grown fa- 

 miliar, both the Cock and Hens were fed on heating aliments ; 

 and after they discovered an inclination to couple, the grate 

 which parts them was removed. It sometimes happened that 

 the Cock Pheasant, faithful to nature, and indignant at the in- 

 suit offered him, abused the Hens, and even killed the first he 

 met with ; but if his rage did not subside, lie was on the one 

 hand mollified by touching his bill with a red-hot iron, and f 

 on the other, stimulated by the application of proper fomenta- 

 tions." Bu/on's Natural History of Birds, vol. ii., p. 302. 

 His note attached is, " The Wild Pheasants never couple 

 with the Hens which they meet ; not but they sometimes make 

 advances, only the Hens will never permit them to proceed. 

 I owe this, among many other observations, to M. Le Roi, 

 Lieutenant des Chasses at Versailles." A promising com- 

 mencement of a new breed of Poultry ! 



But it might be objected that all this happened sixty or 

 seventy years ago, and that the nature of Pheasants and Fowls 

 has since been modified. We have therefore consulted another 

 intelligent keeper, who knows as much about the subject as 

 the best shot that ever handled a gun. On stating my opinion 



