136 THE BATTU WILD PHEASANT. 



and the odium to be borne, are mighty objections, 

 concluding with the following patriotic sentiments : 

 " We read, that the ancients sacrificed a cock to 

 JEsculapius : perhaps the day is at no great distance 

 when it will be considered an indispensable act of 

 prudence for the country gentleman to offer up his 

 last hecatomb of pheasants at the shrine of public 

 opinion." The pheasant once disturbed from his 

 roost, never perches again during the remainder of the 

 night, but takes refuge among the grass, or under- 

 neath the hedges, where he falls an easy prey to the 

 cat, the fox, or the stoat. The pheasant prefers the 

 larch to any other tree, the larch suiting pheasants 

 admirably for roosting, on account of its branches 

 growing nearly at right angles from the stem, which 

 renders the seat of these birds very easy. According 

 to Mr. Ws. actual experience, smoking pheasants is 

 an idle story. Smoke will not bring the birds down. 

 It is supposed that many pheasants are poisoned in 

 the wheat seed season, by picking up grains of wheat 

 which have been dressed by the farmers with arsenic. 

 This paper, to which, I can now do nothing beyond 

 a reference, contains much useful and really practical 

 information on its subject, on poachers, and various 

 other matters of rural and sporting concern. It ap- 

 pears to me, that the cock pheasant never pairs but 

 from necessity, having only one hen. But I found 

 it impossible to tempt the pheasant to pair with a 

 common hen, perhaps had two or three been allowed, 

 it might have succeeded. 



The natural NEST of the pheasant is composed of 

 dry grass and leaves, which being provided for her 



