COURSING, ETC, 263 



them easy to be distinguished in shooting, 

 and prevents the killing a hen instead of a 

 cock. These birds generally lay their eggs 

 in the woods, the number of. which is com- 

 monly ten or twelve ; the season of the young 

 pheasants nearly corresponds with that of the 

 partridges. 



The pheasant in the first year is marked 

 in the wing like a partridge. The young 

 cock, whose plumage is completed the first 

 year, is in like manner known by his spurs, 

 which are round and blunt, but long and 

 sharp in the old ones ; the hen has also a 

 small spur on the hinder part of the leg, 

 which is very small in those that are young, 

 and more large and prominent in a greater 

 or less degree, in proportion to the age of 

 the bird; besides, in young ones, the spurs 

 are each surrounded with a small black cir- 

 cle, which does not disappear till the second 

 .hatching. The legs of those that are very 

 old, that is to say, such as have attained five 

 or six years, are more wrinkled and of a 



