330 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



How taken With difficulty lamed. 



eting." The hens, on flying up, utter one " shrill 

 whistle," and then are silent. Poachers avail 

 themselves of these notes, to discover the roost- 

 ing places, where (in woods that are not well 

 watched) they shoot them with the greatest cer- 

 tainty. Where woods are watched, the poacher, 

 by means of phosphorus, lights a number of 

 brimstone matches ; and the moment the sul- 

 phureous fumes reach the birds, they drop into- 

 his possession. Or he fastens a snare of wire to 

 the end of a long pole ; and by means of this, 

 drags them, one by one, from the trees. He 1 

 sometimes too catches these birds in nooses 

 made of wire, or twisted horsehair, or even with 

 a briar set in the form of a noose, at the verge 

 of a wood. The birds entangle themselves in 

 these, as they run, in the morning or evening, 

 into the adjacent fields to feed. Foxes destroy 

 great numbers of pheasants. 



The males begin to crow the first week int 

 March. This noise can be heard at a consider- 

 able distance. They will occasionally come into 

 farm-yards in the vicinity of coverts where they 

 abound, and sometimes produce a cross breed 

 with the cpmmon fowls. 



Though these birds are so shy as not to be 

 tamed without great difficulty, yet when their 

 natural fear of man has been counteracted from 

 their having been bred under his protection ; and 

 from his almost constantly appearing before their 



