THE PHEASANT. 325 



Beautiful plumage. 



account of the savouriness of its flesh, and bril- 

 liancy of its plumage. It is recorded that whea 

 Croesus, king of Lydia, was seated on his throne, 

 adorned with royal magnificence, and all the 

 blazing pomp of eastern splendor, he asked Solon 

 if he had ever beheld any thing so tine ? The 

 Greek philosopher, no way moved by the ob- 

 jects before him, or taking a pride in his na- 

 tive simplicity, replied, he had seen the beautiful 

 plumage of the pheasant, and therefore could be 

 astonished at no other finery ; and certainly 

 nothing can exceed this beautiful creature's va- 

 riety and richness of colours. The iris of the 

 eye is yellow, and the eyes themselves are sur- 

 rounded with a scarlet colour, sprinkled with, 

 small specks of black. On the forepart of the 

 head there are blackish feathers mixed with a 

 shining chesnut. The top of the head, and the 

 upper part of the neck, are like silk, and are 

 shaded with blue, green, and gold colours, and 

 they are so curiously intermixed as sometimes 

 to appear blue and sometimes green, accord- 

 ing as they happen to be differently placed to 

 the eye of the spectator. The feathers of the 

 breast, the shoulders, the middle of the back, and 

 the sides under the wings have a blackish ground, 

 with edges tinged of an exquisite colour, which 

 appears sometimes black and sometimes purple, 

 according to the different lights it is placed in; 

 under the purple there is a transverse streak of 

 gold colour. The tail, from the middle feathers 



