86 PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



is the most easily shot ; for when they rise, they make 

 a whizzing and flapping noise that instantly betrays 

 them : besides that, they are heavy on the wing, and 

 of slow flight. Thus Pope says : 



" Ah ! what avail his glossy varying dyes, 

 His purpled crest, and scarlet circled eyes, 

 The vivid green his shining plumes unfold, 

 His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold." 



In the woods, the female makes her nest of dry 

 grass and leaves, and there she lays from eighteen to 

 twenty eggs in a season ; but half that number is 

 above the average, when semi-domesticated in the 

 pheasantry. They will roost upon the highest trees 

 of the forest, at night ; by day, the hens will haunt by 

 dozens the lawns and gardens attached to their pre- 

 serves, and, hunting for their promiscuous food, do 

 considerable damage to fruit and flower. When 

 with the female, the male bird makes a flapping 

 noise, that often betrays its retreats. A pheasant, 

 though so marvellously beautiful, is a dull bird; and 

 the hen, in its domesticated state, loses all the 

 patience, vigilance, and care with which, in the 

 remoter woods, she hatches and rears her brood : 

 indeed, when kept thus, the common hen is fre- 

 quently her substitute over the eggs. A full grown 

 pheasant cares little what food he attacks ; he is 

 immoderately fond of oats and barley. When young, 

 ants' eggs, wood-lice, earwigs, and other insects seem 

 necessary to the bird. It may be brought, or rather 



