THE POULTRY KIND. 



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 together ; 

 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 wholesome- 

 ness of any viands, they made ,their comparison 

 with the flesh of the pheasant. However, not- 

 withstanding all these perfections to tempt the 

 curiosity or the palate, the pheasant has multi- 

 plied 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 constitu- 

 tion, has still continued its attachment to native 

 freedom ; and, now wild among us, makes the 

 most env 7 ied 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 twenty eggs in 



