PHEASANT SHOOTING. 89 



and barred somewhat like that of the male ; the 

 space round the eye is covered with feathers." 

 Heliogabalus is recorded to have fed the lions of his 

 menagerie with the delicious flesh of these birds. 

 The Greeks, as they ascended the river Phocis, were 

 early caught by the splendid plumage, and intro- 

 duced the pheasant among the Romans, as a common 

 article of luxury among the magnificent. Jardine 

 says, that the pheasant " may be said to be originally 

 restricted to the Asiatic continent, extending over to 

 the greater part of it, and reaching to China and the 

 confines of Tartary." It is now known in Siberia, and 

 has been introduced into North America. The price 

 pheasants bore in England, in the time of Edward 

 the First, was fourpence ; at the same time that a 

 fat mallard was three halfpence, a plover one penny, 

 a couple of woodcocks three halfpence, and a fat 

 lamb at Christmas one shilling and fourpence. At 

 Isola Madre, in the Lago Maggiore, they are in a 

 beautiful prison-land; for they cannot fly over the 

 lake to the continent, their wings are so short, and 

 so ill-adapted for flight; they are drowned when 

 they attempt it. The pheasants of the Archipelago, 

 that go thither from the woods of Thessaly, are 

 accounted the handsomest in the world, besides 

 being the largest. The rich Turks of Salonica use 

 to let fly at them birds of prey, which they carry on 

 their fist. Sonnini thus describes the method: 

 " When the pheasant first takes its flight, the bird 

 of prey, which they let loose, hovering above, com- 



