192 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



head, and, we trust, quite enough to induce every sensible man to 

 discountenance such proceedings as far as lies in his power, whether 

 he be a sportsman or not; for, unless some attention is given to 

 this matter by the people generally, we may soon expect to find 

 our whole Atlantic seaboard entirely destitute of game of every 

 description. 



INCUBATION. 



The pheasant begins pairing in March and April, and the nest 

 is finished in the course of two or three weeks. The most solitary 

 situations are selected for incubation, and the nest itself is formed 

 even more rudely than that of the partridge, but of pretty much 

 the same material, and generally at the base of a small bush, tree, 

 or old stump. The hen generally drops from five to twelve eggs, 

 of a dull-yellowish color, without spots, and nearly the size of those 

 of a Polish chicken. The nest, notwithstanding the secrecy of its 

 situation, is often plundered, during the absence of the hen, by the 

 crow, raven, and other cruel enemies, that are constantly on the 

 watch to seize upon such delicacies as it contains. In this case 

 the hen is very apt to court again the society of the cock birds, 

 form a new nest, and go to laying a second time ; which fact, as 

 in the partridge, has given rise to the idea of two broods in a 

 season. The young leave the nest almost as soon as hatched, and 

 follow the mother in quest of food ; if surprised during these per- 

 ambulations, they skulk in the grass as young partridges do, while 

 the hen resorts to the same artifices to allure the sportsman away 

 from the vicinity of her tender offspring. Wilson mentions that 

 on one occasion, having accidentally come upon a hen pheasant in 

 company with her brood, she flew up, evidently much alarmed, 

 fluttered for a few moments before him, and then darted down and 

 seized one of the young in her bill and bore it off to a place of 

 safety, leaving him, of course, greatly surprised at the extra- 

 ordinary incident. 



The young birds are sufficiently strong and well grown to fly a 

 short distance in the course of a very few days. The cock birds 



