PHEASANTS AND BUSTARDS. 286 



it still continued shy in the presence of strangers. From 

 the time of its capture in June, till August, when it was sold 

 to a nobleman for thirty-one guineas, it was never seen to 

 drink ; indeed, after the first three weeks, water was never 

 given to it. A second instance of one of these birds attacking 

 a human being occurred about a fortnight afterwards, near 

 the same spot, and under circumstances very similar. The 

 horse, however, took fright, became unmanageable at so 

 unexpected an attack, and ran away with his rider. 



In the above cases, we find only an increase of that spirit 

 with which Nature has endowed them. But the clergyman 

 who possessed the pugnacious Cock just mentioned had a 

 Hen, which so far overcame its natural fear of water as to be 

 in the constant habit of making a short cut from the church- 

 yard (into which she, with the rest of the poultry, occasion- 

 ally wandered) to the barn-yard, by regularly swimming 

 across a pool, which was situated between it and the church- 

 yard. The distance was about thirty yards, and the part of 

 the pool where she crossed was so near the end of it, that 

 the other fowls which came round arrived before her. This 

 Hen had another uncommon propensity, that of catching mice, 

 a practice she pursued with the greatest eagerness, and when 

 caught she was seen to run off with them ; whether she ate 

 them or not was never known with certainty ; at all events, 

 she did not do so invariably, as they were sometimes found 

 dead up and down the yard. 



It has been often doubted whether the Pheasant will breed 

 with the common Hen ; but the following account from a 

 highly respectable authority,* seems to set the question at 

 rest, and deserves the attention of those who are interested in 

 the improvement of their race of poultry. 



In the Autumn of 1826, a wandering Pheasant made its 

 appearance in a small valley of the Grampians, the first of 

 the species ever noticed so far north in that part of the 

 country. For some time it was only occasionally observed, 

 and its presence actually doubted. Winter wants, however, 



* Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. V. 



