AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORT.S. 



15 



Formerly they were numerous in the immediate vicinity 

 of Philadelphia; but as the woods were cleared, and popu- 

 lation increased, they retreated to the interior. At present 

 there are very few to be found within several miles of the 

 city, and those only singly, in the most solitary and retired 

 woody recesses. 



In the uninhabited wilds of the north, far from the per- 

 secuting energies of its great enemy, man, this bird becomes 

 almost as tame as the domestic fowl, and will seldom fly at 

 the approach of the traveller, but contents itself by merely 

 walking a short distance from his path to avoid him. In 

 the State of Maine, Mr. T. R. Peale saw a great number, 

 and experienced this fact, as they could scarcely be made 

 to fly; and if chased would only run but a few yards into 

 the bushes, and then stop. 



The Pheasant is in best order for the table in September 

 and October. At this season they feed chiefly on whortle- 

 berries, and the little red aromatic partridge-berries, the 

 last of which gives their flesh a peculiar delicate flavour. 

 With the former our mountains are literally covered from 

 August to November; and these constitute at that season 

 the greater part of their food. During the deep snows of 

 winter, they have recourse to the buds of alder, and the 

 tender buds of the laurel. I have frequently found their 

 crops distended with a large handful of these latter alone; 

 and it has been confidently asserted, that after having fed 

 for some time on the laurel buds, their flesh becomes highly 

 dangerous to eat of, partaking of the poisonous qualities of 

 the plant. The same has been asserted of the flesh of the 

 deer, when in severe weather, and deep snows, they sub- 

 sist on the leaves and bark of the laurel. Though I have 

 myself eat freely of the flesh of the Pheasant, after empty- 

 ing it of large quantities of laurel buds, without experi- 

 encing any bad consequences, yet, from the respectability 

 of those, some of them eminent physicians, who have par- 

 ticularized cases in which it has proved deleterious, and 

 even fatal, I am inclined to believe that in certain cases 

 where this kind of food has been long continued, and the 

 birds allowed to remain undrawn for several days, until 

 the contents of the crop and stomach have had time to 

 difiuse themselves through the flesh, as is too often the 

 case, it may be unwholesome, and even dangerous. Great 

 numbers of these birds are brought to our markets, at all 

 times during fall and winter, some of which are brought 

 from a distance of more than a hundred miles, and have 

 been probably dead a week or two, unpicked and undrawn, 

 before they are purchased for the table. Regulations, pro- 

 hibiting them from being brought to market, unless picked 

 and drawn, would very probably be a sufiicient security 

 from all danger. At these inclement seasons, however, 

 they are generally lean and dry, and indeed at all times 



their flesh is far inferior to that of the Quail, or of the 

 Pinnated Grous. They are usually sold in Philadelphia 

 market at from three quarters of a dollar to a dollar and a 

 quarter a pair, and sometimes higher. 



The Pheasant or Partridge of New England, is eighteen 

 inches long, and twenty-three inches in extent; bill a horn 

 colour, paler below; eye reddish hazel, immediately above 

 which is a small spot of bare skin, of a scarlet colour; 

 crested head and neck variegated with black, red brown, 

 white and pale brown; sides of the neck furnished with a 

 tuft of large black feathers, twenty-nine or thirty in num- 

 ber, which it occasionally raises: this tuft covers a large 

 space of the neck destitute of feathers; body above a bright 

 rust colour, marked with oval sjsots of yellowish white, 

 and sprinkled with black; wings plain olive brown, exte- 

 riorly edged with white, spotted with olive; the tail is 

 rounding, extends five inches beyond the tips of the wings, 

 is of a bright reddish brown, beautifully marked with nu- 

 merous waving transverse bars of black, is also crossed 

 by a broad band of black within half an inch of the tip, 

 which is bluish white, thickly sprinkled and speckled with 

 black; body below white, marked with large blotches of 

 pale brown; the legs are covered half way to the feet with 

 hairy down, of a brownish white colour; legs and feet pale 

 ash; toes pectinated along the sides, the two exterior ones 

 joined at the base as far as the first joint by a membrane; 

 vent yellowish rust colour. 



The female and young birds difier in having the ruff or 

 tufts of feathers on the neck of a dark brown colour, as 

 well as the bar of black on the tail inclining much to the 

 same tint. 



HUNTING SPIDERS. 



There is a tribe of hunting Spiders that leap like tigers 

 on their prey, and, what is more extraordinary, have the 

 faculty of doing so sideways. One of these jumped two feet 

 on a humble-bee. They approach the object of their in- 

 tended attack with the noiseless and imperceptible motion 

 of the shadow of a sun-dial. If the fly move, the Spider 

 moves also, backwards, forwards, or sideways, and that 

 with so much precision as to time and distance, that the two 

 insects appear as if bound together by some invisible chain, 

 or actuated by the same spirit. If the fly take wing and 

 pitch behind the Spider, the head of the latter is turned 

 round to meet it so quickly that the human eye is deceived, 

 and the Spider appears to be motionless. When all these 

 manoeuvres bring the fly within its springs, the leap is made 

 with fearful rapidity, and the prey struck down like light- 

 ning. The redeeming trait in the history of these cruel 

 creatures is aifection for their young. — Fam. Lib, 



