PHEASANT SHOOTING. 87 



it has a tendency, to couple with other gallinaceous 

 birds; with the domestic poultry, the common hen, 

 and even the turkey. It has been known to have 

 intercourse with the black grouse, notwithstanding 

 some very fine hexameters of Mr. Addison to the 

 contrary. 



In our preserves, we find many varieties of 

 plumage ; the female sometimes assumes a pure 

 white, more often than the male bird. The beautiful 

 variety, called the Bohemian Pheasant, of the rich sil- 

 very grey, is well known. Jardine says, that the eggs 

 of the varieties may also be known and separated by 

 the colours of their shells, being of quite different 

 shades. Where the pheasant is wildest, its flesh 

 eats the best. At all epochs, the fame of the phea- 

 sant has been unrivalled, even by the peacock, for 

 beauty. When Croesus, king of Lydia, desirous to 

 dazzle others, or be dazzled himself, by the volup- 

 tuous trappings of his wealth, demanded of the wise 

 man, what could exceed his magnificence? Solon 

 answered simply, that the plumage of the pheasant 

 was finer than all he saw. And, indeed, the artist, 

 the manufacturer, the dyer, the birth-night beauty, 

 or the poet, may faintly imitate, but never reach or 

 surpass the splendours of its vivid hues. That 

 blending of colours, which yet do not intermingle ; 

 that shotting or shading of gem-like radiances, found 

 in the plumage of the pheasant, is its characteristic. 

 Beswick thus describes it : " The pheasant is about 

 two feet eleven inches in length. The bill is of a 



