THE PHEASANT. 103 



sustain in the plunder of his game. When his 

 hares and partridges are actually on their way to 

 the dealer's shop, he, " good easy man," may fancy 

 that they are merely on a visit to his neighbour's 

 manor, or that the fox and the polecat may have 

 made free with them. Not so with regard to the 

 capture of the pheasant. The mansion is some- 

 times beset ; guns are fired close to the windows ; 

 females are frightened into hysterics ; and, if the 

 owner sallies forth to repel the marauders, his re- 

 ception is often the most untoward and disagreeable 

 that can well be imagined. 



Having now treated of the pheasant, and the 

 mode which is adopted for its destruction, I will 

 draw upon the reader's time a little longer, by pro- 

 posing a plan for its propagation and protection. 



Pheasants would certainly be delightful orna- 

 ments to the lawn of the country gentleman, were 

 it not for the annoying idea that, any night, from 

 November to May, he runs the risk of getting a 

 broken head, if he ventures out to disturb the sport 

 of those who have assembled to destroy them. 

 There must be something radically wrong in the 

 game laws. How or when those laws are to be 

 amended, is an affair of the legislature. The orni- 

 thologist can do no more than point out the griev- 

 ance which they inflict upon society, and hope that 

 there will soon be a change in them for the better. 

 But to the point. Food and a quiet retreat are 

 the two best offers that man can make to the fea- 

 thered race, to induce them to take up their abode 

 on his domain ; and they are absolutely necessary 



H4 



