AV ES—PHEASANT. 593 
rently placed to the eye of the spectator. The feathers of the breast, the 
shoulders, the middle cf 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 nof calculated for a protracted 
flight. On this account, the pheasants on the island called Isola Madre, in 
the Lago Maggiore, in Italy, as they cannot fly across the lake, are impri- 
soned. Those which attempt to cross are almost always drowned. 
This 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 pareel ot 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 
OF al! the species of pheasants which are met with in our preserves ana 
im 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 


1 Phasianus pictus, Li. 
7) 50* 
