THE POULTRY KIND. 97 



this often apprises the sportsman of their retreats. At other times 

 he tracks them in the snow, and frequently takes them in springes. 

 But of all birds they are shot most easily, as they always make a whir- 



he tracks them in the snow, and frequently takes them in springes. 

 But of all birds they are shot most easily, as they always make a whir- 

 ring noise when they rise, by which they alarm the gunner, and be- 



ing a large mark, and flying very slow there is scarce any missing 

 them. 



Ah ! what avails his glossy, varying dyes, 

 His purpled crest, and scarlet circled eyes, 

 The vivid green his shining plumes unfold, 

 His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold ? PCFE. 



When these birds are taken young into keeping, they become as 

 familiar as chickens ; and when they are designed for breeding, they 

 are put together in a yard, five hens to a cock ; for this bird, like all 

 of the poultry kind, is very salacious. In her natural state the female 

 makes her nest of dry grass and leaves ; the same must be laid for her 

 in the pheasantry, and she herself will sometimes 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 to be 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 supply. This food is sometimes also to be va- 

 ried, and wood-lice, earwigs, and other insects, 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 ex- 

 posed till the dew is off the ground in the morning ; and they should 

 always be taken in before sun-set. When they become adult, they 

 can very well 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 phea- 

 sant 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 common hen. The breed thus 

 produced takes much stronger after the pheasant than the hen ; and 

 in a few successions, if they be left to breed with the cock-pheasant, 

 for the mixture is not barren, there will be produced a species more 

 tame, stronger, and more prolific ; 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 carcass, to his great surprise upon coming up, found 

 that he had killed as many pheasants as crows. It is even asserted 

 Sy 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 faL sick or seems to be pining, that all tne rest will 



