592 AVES—PHEASANT. 
and clutch at a time; but as this bears no proportion to the number of her 
eggs, schemes have been imagined to clutch all the eggs of an hen, and thus 
turn her produce to the greatest advantage. The contrivance we mean is 
the artificial method of hatching chickens in stoves, as is practised at Grand 
Cairo; or in a chemical laboratory, properly graduated, as has been effected 
by Mr Reaumur. At Grand Cairo, they thus produce six or seven thousand 
chickens at a time; where, as they are brought forth in their mild spring, 
which is warmer than our summer, the young ones thrive without clutching. 
But it is otherwise in our colder and unequal climate; the little animals 
may, Without much difficulty, be hatched from the shell; but they almost 
all perish when excluded. Recent attempts have been made to apply steam 
to the purpose of hatching fowls. The cock is a short-lived animal; but 
how long these birds live, if left to themselves, is not yet well ascertained 
by any historian. 
THE PHE AS AND 3 
‘THE pheasant is the bird of Phasis, a river of Colchis, in Asia Minor 
whence they were first introduced into Europe. 
Next to the peacock they are the most beautiful of birds, as well for the 
vivid color of their plumes as for their happy mixtures and varieties. It is 
far beyond the power of the pencil to draw any thing so glossy, so bright, or 
points so finely blending into each other. We are told that when Creesus, 
king of Lydia, was seated on his throne, adorned with royal magnificence, 
and all the barbarous pomp of eastern splendor, he asked Solon if he had 
‘ ever beheld any thing so fine? The Greek philosupher, no way moved by 
the objects before him, or taking a pride in his native simplicity, replied, 
that after having seen the beautiful plumage of the pheasant, he could be 
astonished at no other finery. 
In fact, nothing can satisfy the eye with a greater variety and richness of 
ornament than this beautiful creature. The iris of the eyes is yellow; and 
the eyes themselves are surrounded with a scarlet color, sprinkled with small 
specks of black. On the fore part of the head there are blackish feathers 
mixed with a shining purple. The top of the head and the upper part of the 
neck are tinged with a darkish green that shines like silk. In some, 
the top of the head is a shining blue, and the head itself, as well as the upper 
part of the neck, appears sometimes blue and sometimes green, as it is diffe- 
‘ 

1 Phasianus Colchicus, Lin. The genus Phasianus has the bill short, thickened, naked 
at the base; bent towards the tip; nostrils basal, lateral; cheeks naked, warty; ears 
covered; three toes before, united to the first joint, and one benind; tarsi furnished with 
a in the males; tail elongated cuneiform, and composed of eighteen feathers ; wings 
short. 
