124 PHASIANIM. 



tide of Roman power, was eagerly secured by the conquerors 

 to add another luxury to the magnificence of their country, 

 where in a short period they multiplied to such an extent, that 

 we find the Emperor Heliogabalus, in barbaric ostentation 

 causing the lions of the amphitheatre to be fed with them. 

 Possessing the same capacious stomach and congenial dispo- 

 sition with his lions, he satiated himself with the brains of 600 

 ostriches, and the tongues of some hundred nightingales ! 



The varying and resplendent hues with which this bird is 

 covered justifies the stoical answer of the philosopher Solon. 

 Being asked by Croesus, the Lydian king, when in the centre 

 of his court, and surrounded by all the gorgeous accompani- 

 ments of oriental splendour, " What sight could he behold so 

 splendid?" he rejoined, " that, after regarding the glowing 

 plumage of the pheasant, the meretricious adornments of art 

 could never equal the magnificence of nature." 



Of the common pheasant we have two varieties, one pos- 

 sessing a white ring on the neck, which, in the opinion of the 

 celebrated Temminck, was originally a separate species. 

 However, they are now known to be merely varieties, as 

 we have found in one preserve specimens of both ; which the 

 gamekeepers remark breed freely together, and the greater 

 proportion produced, when arrived at mature plumage, is 

 generally destitute of the ring. 



In 1299 the pheasant was introduced into England, and 

 valued at four pence. And at the gorgeous u intronazation" 

 of Archbishop Neville, about the year 1400, 200 " fesauntes" 

 constituted a part. Of its introduction into Ireland we have 

 no record, nor is it mentioned in any of the ancient chronicles 

 of the country. We find the beauties of the pheasant ex- 

 tolled in many of the Provencal lays, and it was equally a 

 favourite with the early Norman " Trouveres," from which 

 source we obtain a glance of the ideas and customs of chi- 

 valry in that early age. The body of a peacock or pheasant, 

 elegantly prepared, being introduced, it was customary for 

 the assembled knights and barons to make a vow (considered 

 an oath of the greatest solemnity) to uphold and protect the 

 honour of their ladies ; and even on more important occasions 

 we find kings engaging their sometimes unwilling lords to vow, 

 in a similar manner, to extend their aid in any projected war- 

 like enterprise.* 



The flesh of the pheasant is deliciously delicate, and has 



* Froissart's Chronicles. 



