THE PHEASANT. 43 



are often kept ready for sitting on any eggs that may be exposed 

 by the scythe ; and with care, numbers are thus rescued from 

 destruction. The nest is usually composed of a few dry vege- 

 tables put carelessly together ; and the young follow the mother 

 like chickens, as soon as they break the shell. The pheasants 

 and their brood remain in the stubbles and hedge-rows, if un- 

 disturbed, for some time after the corn is ripe. If disturbed, 

 they seek the woods, and only issue thence in the mornings and 

 evenings to feed in the stubbies. They are very fond of corn : 

 they can, however, procure a subsistence without it ; since they 

 often feed on the wild berries of the woods and on acorns. 



In confinement the female neither lays so many eggs, nor 

 hatches and rears her brood with so much care and vigilance, 

 as in the fields out of the immediate observation of man. In 

 a mew she will very rarely dispose them in a nest or sit upon 

 them at all. Indeed, in the business of incubation and rearing 

 the young, the domestic hen is generally made a substitute for 

 the hen pheasant. 



The wings of these birds are very short, and ill adapted for 

 considerable flights. On this account, the pheasants on the 

 island called Isola Madre in the La-go Maggiore, at Turin, as 

 they cannot fly over the lake, are altogether imprisoned. When 

 they attempt to cross the lake, unless picked up by the boat- 

 men, they are always drowned. 



The pheasant is in some respects a very stupid bird. On being 

 roused, it will often perch on a neighbouring tree ; where its at- 

 tention will be so fixed on the dogs, as to suffer any person 

 to approach very near. It has been asserted, that the pheasant 

 imagines itself out of danger whenever its head only is concealed. 

 Sportsmen, however, who will recount the stratagems that they 

 have known old cock pheasants adopt in thick and extensive 

 coverts, when they have found themselves pursued, before they 

 could be compelled to take wing, will convince us that this bird 



