ILLUSTRATIONS. 9O 



in Java, Celebes, and Ceylon, there are eighteen or twenty species of wood 

 pigeons, some of which arc as large as a small hen. 



We have no pheasant in this country. Governor Wentworth, of New-Hamp- 

 shire, brought several pairs of pheasants from England, and let them fly in hi? 

 woods at Wolf borough, but they have not since been seen. It is the phasianus 

 :olchicus of Linnseus, is the size of a fowl, and produces cross breeds with hens ; 

 this production is supposed to be the origin of the game cock. It appears from 

 Hartlib's Legacy that in 1650 these birds were kept tame in great numbers, and 

 he mentions a tady who raised two hundred one spring. 



The China pheasant (phasianus pictus) is a hardy, beautiful bird, and might 

 be easily naturalized : it breeds with common pheasants. Scudder has a bird 

 of thi? kii.'i, and the golden pheasant of the same country, in his museum The 

 golden pheasant, and a pheasant called the ring pheasant, a variety of the 

 common one, have been found at large in England, 



The Padua cock and hen weigh from eight to ten pound, and is a variety of 

 the phasianus gallus, or dunghill cock. 



The phasianus gallus exists in a wild state on some of the moors in the north- 

 ern counties of Scotland ; the eggs are nearly double the size of ordinary egg:, 

 A variety of the tame kind has two toes behind, instead of one; of a large 

 breed one has weighed fourteen pounds. Another frizzled variety has the fea- 

 thers curled up ; the flesh is firm and delicate ; it is a tender kind, brought 

 originally from the East Indies. The turkish cocks and hens are said to differ 

 from ours in the variety and beauty of their colours. 



Clavigero says, that there are two kinds of pheasants in Mexico, of the siy.- 

 of a goose, with a crest on their heads, which thfy can raise and depress a 1 : 

 pleasure, that they are distinguishable by their colour, and some particular 

 qualities. The first is called the royal pheasant, or co.-folitti, and has a tawny 

 coloured plumage, and its flesh is more delicate than that of the other. The 

 latter is named tipetotohl, and will sometimes pick from his master's hand, rnee t 

 him with signs of joy, shut the door with his bill, and fight like a cock in poultry 

 yards ; his feathers are of a shining black, and his legs and feet ash-coloured. 



The tetrao francolinus of Linnsus is as large as the common partridge, i 

 inhabits the warmer parts of Europe ; it may be kept iu aviaries where it 

 breeds freely. 



The tetrao rufus greek, or great red partridge, is larger than the common 

 one. 



The red legged partridge, or tetrao rufus, has been let loose in its wild state 

 ia England ; they are all over Europe, \sia. and Africa, and are so tame iu 

 the isle of Scio, according to Tournefort, that they may be driven to seek 

 food hi the fields like so many sheep. 



