AVES-PHEASANT. 593 



rcntly placed to the eye of the spectator. The feathers of the breast, the 

 shoulders, the middle of the back, and the sides under the wings, have a 

 blackish ground, with edges tinged of an exquisite color, which appears 

 sometimes black and sometimes purple, according to the different lights it is 

 placed in; under the purple there is a transverse streak of gold color. The 

 tail, from the middle feathers to the root, is about eighteen inches long ; the 

 legs, the feet, and the toes are of the color of horn. There are black spurs 

 on the legs, shorter than those of a cock; there is a membrane that connects 

 two of the toes together; and the male is much more beautiful than the 

 female. 



The wings of the pheasant are short, and not calculated for a protracted 

 flight. On this account, the pheasants on the island called Isola Madre, in 

 the Lago Maggiore, in Italy, as they cannoti fly across the lake, are impri- 

 soned. Those which attempt to cross are almost always drowned. 



Tills bird, though so beautiful to the eye, is not less delicate when served 

 up to the table. Its flesh is considered as the greatest dainty ; and when 

 the old physicians spoke of the wholesomeness of any viands, they made 

 their comparison with the flesh of the pheasant. In the woods the hen 

 pheasant lays from eighteen to twenty eggs in a season ; but in a domestic 

 state she seldom lays above ten. Its fecundity when wild is sufficient to 

 stock the forest ; its beautiful plumage adorns it ; and its flesh retains a 

 higher flavor from its unlimited freedom. 



The pheasant, when full grown, seems to feed indifferently upon every 

 thing that offers. It is said by a French writer, that one of the king's 

 sportsmen shooting at a parcel of crows that were gathered round a dead 

 carcass, to his great surprise, upon coming up, found that he had killed as 

 many pheasants as crows. It is even asserted by -some, that such is the 

 carnivorous disposition of this bird, that when several of them are put 

 together in the same yard, if one of them happens to fall sick, or seems to 

 be pining, all the rest will fall upon, kill, and devour it. 



THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. i 



Of all the species of pheasants which are met with in our preserves and 

 in our aviaries, the golden pheasant is the rarest and the most beautiful. 

 The male bird, when in perfect plumage, measures nearly three feet in 

 length, of which the tail alone forms about two thirds. The feathers of the 

 fore part of the head are very long, silky, and of a bright yellow ; and con- 

 siderably overhang those of the hinder part, which are of a brilliant orange, 

 marked with transverse black rays. These last are elongated and extended 



• Phasianus p ictus, Lin. 



75 50* 



