ITS INTRODUCTION INTO BRITAIN. 2 11 



and that we are probably indebted for this game-bird to 

 the enterprise of the Romans. The earliest record, we 

 believe, of the occurrence of the pheasant in this country 

 will be found in the tract " De inventione Sanctse Crucis 

 nostras in Monte Acuto et de ductione ejusdem apud 

 Waltham," edited by Prof. Stubbs from manuscripts in 

 the British Museum, and published in 1861* In one of 

 these manuscripts, dated about 1177, is the following bill 

 of fare prescribed by Harold for the Canons' Households, 

 in 1059 : — 



" Erant autem tales pitantiae unicuique canonico : a 

 festo Sancti Michaelis usque ad caput jejunii, aut xii. 

 merulse, aut ii. agausea?, aut ii. perdices, aut turns phasianus, 

 reliquis temporibus aut anca?, aut gallinae." 



Yarrell, in his " History of British Birds," gives an ex- 

 tract from Dugdale's " Monasticon Anglicanum " to the 

 effect that the Abbot of Amesbury obtained a licence from 

 the king to kill pheasants, in the first year of Henry I. 

 (1 100). 



Leland, in his account of the feast given at the inthro- 

 nisation of George Nevell, Archbishop of York, in the 

 reign of Edward IV., tells us that, amongst other good 

 things, two hundred " fesauntes " were provided for the 

 guests. 



In the " Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York," 



* See " The Ibis," 1869, p. 358. 



