216 PIGEONS. 



the M hite one what the white fowl is to the brown pheasant, the 

 hen pheasant, at least, being of that colour. 



" Here it may be added, that the fowl being about the size of 

 the pheasant, and in its general form bearing some resemblance to 

 it, so this general resemblance, in any other respect, will render 

 its peculiarity, in point of colour, so much the greater deformity. 

 Fowls, too, when they stray from the farm-yard into the fields to 

 feed, and pheasants, when they leave the coppices and hedgerows 

 for the same purpose, prowl and feed, both of them, in the same 

 manner. And while other birds are continually on the wing from 

 place to place, and seldom remain long on a spot, the pheasant 

 rarely rises unless disturbed, and is much more still and stationary. 

 The pheasant, if undisturbed, continues in the same neighbour- 

 hood, particularly in the breeding season. Fowls, when they 

 stray, since they cannot go far, must frequent the same fields; 

 and as the pheasant from its habits is likely to meet them, and to 

 remain with them, it is liable not only to a more durable im- 

 pression, but subject to a greater exposure to that impression. 

 And it is, perhaps, from these causes that there are a greater 

 number of white pheasants than white varieties of any other single 

 species of birds, for we much oftener hear of the former than of 

 the latter. But what may be the cause of the lusus naturae in 

 other birds, the author of these remarks leaves to be explained, or 

 attempted, by some more close observer of her feathered family." 



PIGEONS. 



* 



The shooting of tame pigeons I have always had 

 want of taste enough to consider as an amusement 

 to be classed with badger-baiting. But as it be- 

 comes a glorious opportunity for assembling parties 

 to gamble and get drunk, I must not be so unfashion- 

 able as to moralise about cruelty ; particularly as the 

 professors of this accomplishment might ask me, 



