U6 A HISTORY OF 



sprr nkled with small specks of black. On the fore-part of the head 

 there are blackish feathers mixed with a shining purple. The top of 

 the head and the upper part of the neck are tinged with a darkish 

 green that shines like silk. In some the top of the head is of a shining 

 blue, and the head itself, as well as the upper part of the neck, ap- 

 pears sometimes blue and sometimes green, as it is differently placed 

 to the eye of the spectator. The feathers of the breast, the shoulders, 

 the middle of the back, and the sides under the wings, have a black- 

 ish ground, with edges tinged of an exquisite colour, which appears 

 sometimes black and sometimes purple, according to the different 

 /ights it is placed in : under the purple there is a transverse streak of 

 gold colour. The tail from the middle feathers to the root is about 

 eighteen inches long ; the legs, the feet, and the toes are of the 

 colour of horn. There are black spurs on the legs, shorter than those 

 of a cock ; there is a membrane that connects two of the toes toge- 

 ther, and the male is much more beautiful than the female. 



This bird, though so beautiful to the eye, is not less delicate when 

 served up to the table. Its flesh is considered as the greatest dainty ; 

 and when the old physicians spoke of the wholesomeness of any 

 viands, they made their comparison -with the flesh of the pheasant. 

 However, notwithstanding all these perfections to tempt the curiosity 

 or the palate, the pheasant has multiplied in its wild state ; and, as if 

 disdaining the protection of man, has left him, to take shelter in the 

 thickest woods and the remotest forests. All others of the domestic 

 kind, the cock, the turkey, or the pintada, when once reclaimed, have 

 still continued in their domestic state, and persevered in the habits 

 and appetites of willing slavery. But the pheasant, though taken from 

 its native warm retreats, where the woods supply variety of food, and 

 the warm sun suits its tender constitution, has still continued its at- 

 tachment to native freedom ; and now wild among us, makes the most 

 envied ornament of our parks and forests, where he feeds upon acorns 

 and berries, and the scanty produce of our chilling climate. 



This spirit of independence seems to attend the pheasant even in 

 captivity. In the woods the hen pheasant lays from eighteen to twen- 

 ty eggs in a season ; but in a domestic state she seldom lays above 

 ten. In the same manner, when wild she hatches and leads up her 

 brood with patience, vigilance, and courage ; but when kept tame she 

 never sits well ; so that a hen is generally her substitute upon such 

 occasions; and as for leading her young to their food, she is utterly 

 ignorant of where it is to be found, and the young birds starve, if left 

 solely to her protection. The pheasant, therefore, on every account 

 seems better left at large in the woods, than reclaimed to pristine cap- 

 tivity. Its fecundity, when wild, is sufficient to stock the forests; its 

 beautiful plumage adorns it ; and its flesh retains a higher flavour from 

 its unlimited freedoir 



However, it has been the aim of late to take these birds once more 

 from the woods, and to keep them in places fitted for their reception. 

 Like all others of the poultry kind, they have no greater sagacity, and 

 suffer themselves easily to be taken. At night they roost upon the 

 highest trees of the wood ; and by day they come down into the lower 

 brakes and bushes, where their food is chiefly found. They generally 

 wake a km u of flapping noise when they are with the females, aivi 



