BIROS. Iii7 



when sen-ed up to the table. Its flesh is considered as tlie 

 greatest dainty ; and when the ohi physicians spoke of the wliole- 

 sonieness of any viands, they made their comparison with the 

 flesh of the pheasant. However, notwithstanding all these per- 

 fections to tempt the curiosity or the palate, the pheasant has 

 multiplied in its wild state ; and, as if disdaining the protection 

 of man, has left him to take shelter in the thickest woods and 

 the remotest forests. All others of the domestic kind, the cock, 

 the turkey, or the pintada, when once reclaimed, have still con- 

 tinued in their domestic state, and persevered in the habits and 

 appetites of willing slavery. But the pheasant, though taken 

 from its native warm retreats, where the woods supply variety of 

 food, and the warm sun suits its tender constitution, has still 

 coiitiimed its attachment to native freedom ; and now wild among 

 us, makes the most envied ornament of our parks and forests, 

 where he feeds upon acorns and berries, and the scanty produce 

 of our chilling climate. 



This spirit of independence seems to attend the pheasant even 

 in captivity. In the woods, the hen pheasant lays from eighteen 

 to twenty eggs in a season ; but in a domestic state she seldom 

 lays above ten. In the same maimer when wild she hatches and 

 leads up her brood with patience, vigilance, and courage ; but 

 when kept tame, she never sits well ; so that a hen is generally 

 her substitute upon such occasions; and as for leading her 

 young to their food, she is utterly ignorant of where it is to be 

 found ; and the young birds starve, if left solely to her protec- 

 tion. The pheasant therefore, on every account, seems better 

 left at large in the woods, than reclaimed to pristine captivity. 

 Its fecundity when wild is sufficient to stock the forest ; its 

 beautiful plumage adorns it ; and its flesh retains a higher flavour 

 from its unlimited freedom. 



However, it has been the aim of late to take these birds once 

 more from the woods, and to keep them in places fitted for their 

 reception. Like all others of the poultry kind, they have no 

 great sagacity, and suffer themselves easily to be taken. At 

 night they roost upon the highest trees of the wood ; and by day 

 they come down into the lower brakes and bushes, where their 

 food is chiefly found. They generally make a kind of flapping 

 noise when they are with the females; and this often apprises the 

 sportsman of their retreats. At other times he tracts them in 



