ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 265 



Who would imagine that this moderately common bird, 

 at home in our woods and thickets, eating the wild and 

 cultivated produce of the land with the zest of a native, 

 could be a stranger of strangers ? Yet so it seems to be, for 

 tradition says that the Pheasant's home is in far Colchis, on 

 the banks of the river Phasis in Asia Minor. Nevertheless 

 tradition may be wrong, for the fact that fossil remains of 

 several species of Pheasant have been found in prehistoric 

 deposits in Europe, suggests that the Common Pheasant 

 (Phasianus colchicus] may have originated nearer home. 

 Its remains, however, have not been found in any early 

 deposit in this country, and the oldest record, from the 

 station at Silchester, points to its connection with the 

 Romans. 



Other evidence makes it probable that the Pheasant, 

 perhaps in company with the Peacock, was introduced into 

 Britain to grace the villas of the Romans. A manuscript in 

 the British Museum shows that in 1059, during the reign of 

 King Harold, " unus phasianus " was regarded as equal to 

 two Partridges in the bill of fare of the canons of Waltham 

 Abbey. The importance of this evidence lies in that it 

 rules out of count the Normans, the importers of the Rabbit, 

 for the Pheasant was naturalized in England before their 

 Conquest, and it is regarded as unlikely that the Anglo- 

 Saxons, who are not known to have introduced any animal, 

 could have brought it to this country. In 1 100, in the reign 

 of King Henry the First, the Abbot of Malmesbury obtained 

 a licence to kill Pheasants and Hares; in 1299 the price of 

 a Pheasant was fourpence, as against three halfpence for a 

 Mallard; about 1512 the Pheasant's value had risen to 

 "xiid" and a Mallard to " iid a pece." Thereafter there 

 are many references to the presence of Pheasants in England 

 and to their value in the dietary; they had become one of 

 the common food birds. 



I can find, however, no evidence that Pheasants were 

 known in Scotland until long after they had been estab- 

 lished in England. No remains have been found amongst 

 the organic accumulations of the Roman station at Newstead, 

 or in any Scottish deposit of the Romano- British period. 

 In that wonderful palace, to which I have already referred 

 (p. 210), wherein the Earl of Athole feasted King James 



