TAMENBSS OF PHEASANTS. 15 



in a fine cock pheasant wMch inhabited, or rather infested, the grounds and shrub- 

 bery. He had been originally, I believe, reared on the premises, but had become 

 as wild as any of his fellows, and, after having been lord of a harem of some seven 

 or eight ladies last spring, who had all reared their families and gone off with 

 them, bad been left in loneliness j with his temper soured against the female sex at 

 large. His beat was for about a quarter of a mile between the house and the 

 entrance-gate, and on the approach of anything in the shape of crinoline his temper 

 was roused to such a degree that he attacked it with all his might and main, flying 

 up at the unnatural appendage, pecking fiercely with his bill, and striking out at 

 it with his spurs like any game-cock. I witnessed aU this with my own eyes, and 

 was not surprised at the terror he had created among the females by whom he was 

 positively dreaded, and not without reason. One lady had attempted to protect 

 herself by taking a terrier as her guardian, who at first offered fight in her defence, 

 but was soon compelled to show the white feather, and at the very sight of his 

 antagonist ran off with his tail between his legs. At length, however, he met with 

 his master in the shape of a gipsy- woman, who being of course uncrinolined, and 

 therefore considering herself unjustly attacked, set upon him, and not only pulled 

 out his tail, but crushed him with her foot, and left him on his back apparently 

 in the agonies of death. The domestics, however, went to his assistance, and by 

 their kind attentions he was restored. Still his old antipathy revived with his 

 returning strength, and in a day or two the sight of crinoline again roused his 

 wrath. Therefore, for fear of his meeting with an untimely end from some other 

 strong-minded woman, it was decided that he should have his wing clipped, and be 

 kept prisoner within the walls of the kitchen-garden." 



The wife of Mr. Barnes (formerly head keeper to Mr. D. Wynham, of 

 Denton Hall, near Salisbury), carefuHy nursed a very young hen pheasant' with a 

 broken leg. She got well, and in course of time was turned out with the rest of 

 the brood into the adjacent woods. For several seasons afterwards this hen brought 

 her own brood to the keeper's lodge. 



Mr. T. B. Johnson, in his "Gamekeeper's Directory," mentions one he had 

 reared from the nest that became uncommonly familiar: "It wiU follow me," he 

 writes, "into the garden or' homestead,' where it will feed on insects and grass, and 

 I occasionally observed it swallow large worms. Of aU things, however, flies appear 

 to be its favourite food. Before he was able to fly, I frequently lifted him into the 

 window, and it was truly amusing to witness his dexterity in fly catching. He had 

 been named Dick, to which he answers as well as possible. Dick is a very social 

 being, who cannot endure being left alone; and if it so happen (as it occasionally 

 does) that the bird finds every person has quitted the room, he immediately goes 

 in search of some of the family; if the door be shut, and his egress thus denied, 

 he utters the most plaintive noise, evidently testifying every symptom of uneasiness 



