PHEASAXT-SII00TL\G 791 



Pheasant-shooting commences on the tenth day of October, 

 and ends on the first of February. 



This beautiful bird, now so commonly diffused throughout 

 Great Britain and Ireland, and which breeds with such faci- 

 lity either in a wild or domesticated condition, was originally 

 introduced from the banks of the Phasis, a river of Colchis, 

 in Asia Minor. It is said that this bird was brought by 

 Jason, when he made his celebrated expedition to Phasis, and 

 hence the etymology of the word, which was, in consequence, 

 csilled phasiafius by the Latins, and tmnslsited pheasant in 

 our IsmgMBge, fasian in French, 2ind fasiano in Italian. 



The pheasant is now to be met with in Britain from 

 Land's End to John-o'-Groat's House, and although it has 

 been for such a length of time a naturalized inhabitant of 

 this country, the cause of its preservation must be referred 

 not so much to the wildness of its disposition as to the care 

 and expense bestowed to that end by noblemen and other 

 extensive landed proprietors, without which the breed would 

 in all probability have been long since extinct. Independ- 

 ently of its beauty, as an object of idle acquisition, the high 

 estimation it bears at the tables of the wealthy and luxuri- 

 ous, proves too tempting an inducement for the poacher, 

 whose facilities of capture are greatly increased by the pecu- 

 liar habits of the bird. 



Woods that are thick at the bottom, with long grass, sus- 

 tained by brambles and bushes, thick plantations, or marshy 

 islands, and moist grounds overgrown with rushes, reeds, or 

 osiers, are the favourite resorts of pheasants. Where these 

 do not exist, thick hedge-rows are chosen by them, but how- 

 ever well they are protected and encouraged, they will never 

 be induced to remain where these are wanting. Wood and 

 water are indispensable to the pheasant. In these situations 

 this bird lies concealed during the day, and its time of feed- 



