PHEASANTS. 233 



On another occasion an egg was obtained, after 

 an hour's arduous labour, from a mound fifteen 

 feet high, and sixty feet in circumference. As 

 usual, it was so enveloped in dense trees, as to 

 exclude the rays of the sun from its surface ; yet 

 its interior felt quite warm. The egg is nearly as 

 large as that of a swan ; it is white, but tinged 

 by the soil of a dingy brown hue. 



The Jungle-fowl seems to be confined to the 

 thickets near the sea. It is always seen in pairs 

 or singly ; its food consists of roots, which it 

 scratches up with great facility, and of seeds, ber- 

 ries, and large beetles. It flies heavily and awk- 

 wardly, with much whirring of its hollow wings. 

 The native's imitation of its note was like the 

 clucking of the domestic >fowl, ending with a 

 scream like that of the peacock.* 



FAMILY III. PHASIANIDJE. 



(Pheasants.) 



The extensive Family at which we are now 

 arrived contains birds of large size, imposing 

 aspect, and magnificent plumage ; and as the flesh 

 of all is in good esteem, it is the most important 

 of all to man. Some of its members have been 

 kept in a state of domestication for so long a 

 period that history and tradition have both failed 

 to fix its commencement : thus the earliest Greek 

 poets recognise the common Fowl and the Peacock 

 as well known birds, whose introduction was un- 

 recorded ; while the European possession of the 

 Pheasant is carried by them back to a fabulous 



* Gould's Birds of Australia. 



