OCTOBER 269 



Unluckily, as I think, the old English pheasant, Phasi- 

 anus colchicus of ornithologists, the ' black pheasant ' in 

 gamekeepers' parlance, is now scarcely to be found any- 

 where pure within the British Isles. This fine bird, 

 which has not a white feather upon its whole body, had 

 its original home in ancient Colchis, that part of Asia 

 Minor which abuts upon the east of the Black Sea. The 

 river Phasis, now called the Rioni, gave the pheasant the 

 name it bears in every European language. From Colchis 

 the bird was carried westward with Roman conquest and 

 civilisation, finding congenial quarters in the British 

 forest. Here it must have become fairly common at an 

 early date, seeing that in 1059 King Harold prescribed 

 unus phasianus as an alternative to a brace of partridges 

 in the rations or pitantice of the canons of Waltham 

 Abbey. Henry vin. had a French priest in his pay as 

 ' fesaunt breder ' ; but these birds were not reared for 

 sport, only for the table. Pheasant-shooting was still at 

 a primitive stage in the seventeenth century, to judge 

 from an engraving by Hollar, upon which is inscribed the 

 couplet 



' The Peasant Cocke the woods doth most frequent, 

 Where Spaniells springe and perche him by the sent ' ; 



a method which gave the sportsman a convenient sitting 

 shot. 



It is amusing, in these days when pheasants are reared 

 by the thousand for shooting, to read the following in the 

 diary of Colonel Hawker, that great preceptor in the use 

 of the fowling-piece 



'November 11, 1812. Walked out from the town of Glasgow 

 (after twelve o'clock), and bagged four partridges and one 



