THE PINTADO. 



75 



properly dispose them. If she refuses to 

 hatch her eggs, then a common hen must be 

 got to supply her place, which task she will 

 perform with perseverance and success. The 

 young ones are very difficult to be reared ; 

 and they must be supplied with ants' eggs, 

 which is the food the old one leads them to 

 gather when wild in the woods. To make 

 these go the farther, they are chopped up 

 with curds, or other meat; and the young 

 ones are to be fed with great exactness, both 

 as to the quantity and the time of their sup- 

 ply. This food is sometimes also to be 

 varied, and woodlice, earwigs, and other in- 

 sects, are to make a variety. The place 

 where they are reared must be kept extremely 

 clean ; their water must be changed twice or 

 thrice a day; they must not be exposed till 

 the dew is off the ground in the morning ; 

 and they should always be taken in before 

 sunset. When they become adult, they very 

 well can shift for themselves, but they are 

 particularly fond of oats and barley. 



In order to increase the breed, and make 

 it still more valuable, Longolius teaches us a 

 method that appears very peculiar. The 

 pheasant is a very bold bird, when first 

 brought into the yard among other poultry, 

 not sparing the peacock, nor even such young 

 cocks and hens as it can master ; but after a 

 time it will live tamely among them, and 

 will at last be brought to couple with a com- 

 mon hen. The breed thus produced take 

 much stronger after the pheasant than the 

 hen ; and in a few successions, if they be left 

 to breed with a cock pheasant, (for the mix- 

 ture is not barren,) there will be produced a 

 species more tame, stronger, and more pro- 

 lific; so that he adds, that it is strange why 

 most of our pheasantries are not stocked with 

 birds produced in this manner. 



The pheasant, when full grown, seems to 

 feed indifferently upon every thing that offers. 

 It is said by a French writer, that one of the 

 king's sportsmen shooting at a parcel of crows, 

 that were gathered round a dead carcase, to 

 his great surprise, upon coming up, found that 

 he had killed as many pheasants as crows. 1 

 It is even asserted by some, that such is the 

 carnivorous disposition of this bird, that when 

 several of them are put together in the same 

 yard, if one of them happens to fall sick, or 

 seems to be pining, that all the rest will fall 

 upon, kill, and devour it. Such is the lan- 

 guage of books ; those who have frequent op- 

 portunities of examining the manners of the 

 bird itself, know what credit ought to be given 

 to such an account. 



1 When pheasants are observed pecking at carrion, it 

 is not the can-ion they are eating, but the maggots upon 



it, of which they are fond. 



Of the pheasant, as of all other domestic 

 fowl, there are many varieties. There are 

 white pheasants, crested pheasants, spotted 

 pheasants ; but of all others, the golden phea- 

 sant of China is the most beautiful. It is a 

 doubt whether the peacock itself can bear the 

 comparison. However, the natives of China 

 would not have us consider it as their most 

 beautiful bird, though covered all over with 

 eyes, resembling in miniature those of the 

 peacock. By their accounts, it is far exceed- 

 ed by the fongwang, an imaginary bird, of 

 which they give a most fantastic description. 

 It is thus that the people of every country, 

 though possessed of the greatest advantages, 

 have still others that they would persuade 

 strangers they enjoy, which have existence 

 only in the imagination. 



CHAP. VI. 



THE PINTADO, OR GUINEA-HEN. 



THIS is a very remarkable bird, and in 

 some measure unites the characteristics of the 

 pheasant and the turkey. It has the fine de- 

 licate shape of the one, and the bare head of 

 the other. To be more particular, it is about 

 the size of a common hen, but as it is support- 

 ed on longer legs, it looks much larger. It 

 has a round back, with a tail turned down- 

 wards like a partridge. The head is covered 

 with a kind of casque ; and the whole plum- 

 age is black or dark gray, speckled with 

 white spots. It has wattles under the bill, 

 which do not proceed from the lower chap as 

 in cocks, but from the upper, which gives it a 

 very peculiar air ; while its restless gait and 

 odd chuckling sound distinguish it sufficiently 

 from all other birds whatever. 



It is well known all over Europe, and even 

 better than with us, as the nations that border 

 on the Mediterranean probably had it before 

 us from those parts of Africa which lay near 

 est. Accordingly we find it in different coun- 

 tries called by different names, from the place 

 whence they had it. They are by some called 

 the Barbary-hen; by others, the Tamis bird; 

 and by others, the bird of Numidia. 1 We 



1 The pintado is the bird formerly known to the an 



