90 PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



pels it to perch on some tree ; lie then places him 

 self on another branch over its head, and keeps it in 

 such terror, that it suffers itself to be approached, 

 and easily taken alive." This fact sufficiently deve- 

 lops the mystery of fascination. Mr. Waterton gives 

 us a most valuable remark on breeding pheasants : 

 " Notwithstanding," says he, " the proximity of the 

 pheasant to the nature of the barn-door fowl, it baffles 

 every attempt at complete domestication, from a most 

 singular innate timidity, which never fails to shew 

 itself on the sudden and abrupt appearance of any 

 object. I spent some months in trying to overcome 

 this timorous propensity in the pheasant, but com- 

 pletely failed in my object." At the commencement 

 of the season, the birds that he reared under a 

 common hen, took to the woods: " The more we 

 look into the habits of the pheasant, the more we are 

 persuaded that much more attention ought to be paid 

 to it than it receives, or than is generally paid to 

 other kinds of game. The never-failing morning 

 and evening notice which it gives of its place of 

 retreat, together with its superior size, cause it to be 

 soon detected, and easily killed. The tax, too, 

 which government has put upon it, enhances its value 

 as an indispensable delicacy at the tables of those 

 who give good cheer." 



