150 HISTORY OF 



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 lead- 

 ing her young to their food, she is utterly igno- 

 rant 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 captivity. Its fecundity when wild is 

 sufficient to stock the forest ; its beautiful plum- 

 age adorns it ; and its flesh retains a higher fla- 

 vour from its unlimited freedom. 



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 

 great 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 make a 

 kind of flapping noise when they are with the 

 females, and this often apprizes 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 whirring noise when they rise, by 

 which they alarm the gunner, and being a large 

 mark, and flying very slow, there is scarcely any 

 missing them. 



