THE PHEASANT. 



71 



extremely tender at first, and must be carefully 

 fed with curd chopped with dock-leaves ; but 

 as they grow older, they become more hardy, 

 and follow the mother to considerable distan- 

 ces, in pursuit of insect food, which they pre- 

 fer to any other. On these occasions, how- 

 ever, the female, though so large, and, as it 

 would seem, so powerful a bird, gives them 

 but very little protection against the attacks of 

 any rapacious animal that comes in her way. 

 She rather warns her young to shift for them- 

 selves, than prepares to defend them. " I 

 have heard," says the Abbe la Pluche, " a 

 turkey-hen, when at the head of her brood, 

 send forth the most hideous screams, without 

 knowing as yet the cause : however, her 

 young, immediately when the warning was 

 given, skulked under the bushes, the grass, or 

 whatever else offered for shelter, or protection. 

 They even stretched themselves at their full 

 length upon the ground, and continued lying 

 as motionless as if they were dead. In the 

 meantime the mother, with her eyes directed 

 upwards, continued her cries and screaming 

 as before. Upon looking up to where she 

 seemed to gaze, 1 discovered a black spot just 

 under the clouds, but was unable, at first, to 

 determine what it was ; however, it soon ap- 

 peared to be a bird of prey, though, at first, 

 at too great a distance to be distinguished. I 

 have seen one of these animals continue in this 

 violent agitated state, and her whole brood 

 pinned down as it were to .the ground for 

 four hours together ; whilst their formidable 

 foe has taken his circuits, has mounted, and 

 hovered directly over their heads : at last, 

 upon disappearing, the parent began to change 

 her note, and sent forth another cry, which, 

 in an instant, gave life to the whole trembling- 

 tribe, and they all flocked round her with ex- 

 pressions of pleasure, as if conscious of their 

 happy escape from danger." 



When once grown up, turkeys are very 

 hardy birds, and feed themselves at very little 

 expense to the farmer. Those of Norfolk are 

 said to be the largest of this kingdom, weigh- 

 ing from twenty to thirty pounds. There are 

 places, however, in the East Indies, where 

 they are known only in their domestic state, 

 in which they grow to the weight of sixty 

 pounds. 1 



1 A great variety of gallinaceous birds, which might 

 easily be added to our domestic poultry, are peculiar to 

 America. Such are especially the Curassows. In 

 many parts of South America these birds have long been 

 reclaimed; and it is really surprising, considering the 

 extreme familiarity of their manners, and the facility 

 with which they appear to pass from a state of nature to 

 the lameness of domestic fowls, that they have not yet 

 been introduced to the poultry-yards of Europe. That, 

 with proper treatment, they would speedily become ha- 

 bituated to the climate we have no reason to doubt; on 



CHAP. V. 



THE PHEASANT. 



IT would surprise a sportsman to be told, 

 that the pheasant which he finds wild in the 



the contrary, numerous examples have shown that they 

 thrive well even in its northern parts; and M. Tem- 

 minck informs us that they have once at least been tho- 

 roughly acclimated in Holland, where they were as pro- 

 lific, in their domesticated state, as any of our common 

 poultry. The establishment, however, in which this 

 had been effected, was broken up by the civil commo- 

 tions which followed in the train of the French revolu- 

 tion, and all the pains which had been bestowed upon the 

 education of these birds were lost to the world by their 

 sudden and complete dispersion. 



The plumage of the Crested Curassow (See Plate 

 XVIII. fig. 12.) is of a deep black with a slight gloss of 

 green upon the head, crest, neck, back, wings anil upper 

 part of the tail ; and dull white beneath and on the lower 

 tail coverts. Its crest is from two to three inches in 

 length, and occupies the whole upper surface of the head: 

 it is curled and velvety in its appearance, and capable of 

 being raised or depressed at will, in accordance with the 

 temporary feelings by which the bird is actuated. The 

 eyes are surrounded by a naked skin, which extends into 

 the cere and there assumes a bright yellow colour. In 

 size. the bird is almost equal to a turkey. This species 

 is a native of Mexico, Guiana, and Brasil, and probably 

 extends itself over a large portion of the southern divi- 

 sion of the American continent. In the woods of 

 Guiana it appears to be so extremely common that M. 

 Sonnini regards it as the most certain resource of a 

 hungry traveller, whose stock of provisions is exhausted, 

 and who has consequently to trust to his gun for furnish- 

 ing him with a fresh supply. They congregate together 

 in numerous flocks, and appear to be under little or no 

 uneasiness from the intrusion of men into their haunts. 

 Even when a considerable number of them have been 

 shot, the rest remain quietly perched upon the trees, 

 apparently unconscious of the havoc that has been com- 

 mitted among them. This conduct is by no means the 

 result of stupidity, but proceeds rather from the natural 

 tameness and unsuspiciousness of their character. Those, 

 however, which frequent the neighbourhood of inhabited 

 places are said to be much wilder and more mistrustful, 

 being kept constantly on the alert to avoid the pursuit 

 of the hunters, who destroy them in great numbers. 

 They build their nests on the trees, forming them ex- 

 ternally of branches interlaced with the stalks of herba- 

 ceous plants, and lining them internally with leaves. 

 They generally lay but onoe a-year, during the rainy 

 season ; the number of their eggs being, according to 

 Sonnini, five or six, and to D'Azara as many as eight. 



