muDs. 123 



CHAP V. 



THE PHEASANT. 



It would surprise a sportsman to be told, that the pheasants 

 which he finds wild in the woods, in the remotest parts of the 

 kingdom, and in forests which can scarcely be said to have an 



8S prolific, in thoir domesticated state, as any of our common poultry. The 

 establislnnent, however, in which this hud been cfl'octod, was hfoken up by 

 the civil commotions which followed in the train of the French revolution, 

 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 

 task, which had at that time been in some measure accomplished, still re- 

 mains to be performed ; and it may not be too much to expect that the 

 Zoological Society may be successful in perfecting' what was then so well 

 begiui, and in naturalizing the curassows as completely as our ancestors 

 liBve done the equally exotic, and, in their wild state, much less familiar, 

 breeds of the turkey, the guinea-fowl, and the peacock. Their introduction 

 would certainly be most desirable, not merely on account of their size and 

 beauty, but also for the whiteness and excellence of their ilesh, which is 

 said by those who have eaten of it to surpass that of the guinea-fowl or of 

 the pheasant in the delicacy of its flavour. 



The plumage of the Crested Curassow is of a deep black with a slight 

 gloss of gfreen upon the head, crest, neck, back, wings, and upper part of 

 the tail ; and dull white beneath and on the lower tail-coverts. Its crest 

 If from two to three inches in length, and occupies the whole upper surface 

 Ol 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 surrounaed by a naked skin, 

 which extends into the cere and there a-ssumes a bright yellow colour. lu 

 size the bird is almost equal to a turkey. This species is a native of Mexico, 

 (Juiana, and Brasil, and probably extends itself over a large portion of the 

 Eouthern division of the American Continent. In the woods of Gtdatla it 

 appears to be so extremely common that M. Sonnini regards it as the most 

 certain resources of a hungry traveller, -nhose stock of provisions is ex. 

 hausted, and who has consequently to trust to his gun for furnishing him 

 ■jnth a fresh supply. They congregate together in ninnerous flocks, and 

 nppear to be under little or no uneasiness from the intrusion of men into 

 tlu'ir haunts. Even «hen a considerable number of them have been shot, 

 the rest remain quietly perched upon the trees, apparently unconscions ot 

 Ihe havoc that has been committed among them. Tliis conduct is by no 

 raeaus the result of stupidity, but proceeds rather from the natural tameness 

 and uuiiuspiciousness of their character. Those, however, which frequent 

 tlie neighbourhood of inhabited places are said to be much wilder and more 

 roistrustful, being kept constantly on the alert to avoid the pursuit of the 

 nuBters who destroy them in great numbers. They build their nests on the 



