24 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



under similar circumstances^ Dick is easily checked. He is 

 fond of stretching himself in the sunbeams : and if this be 

 not attainable, before the kitchen fire. Oq being taken into 

 the house he was presented to the view of the cat, the latter 

 at the same time given to understand that the bird was 

 privileged, and that she must not disturb him. The cat is 

 evidently not fond of Dick as an inmate, but she abstains 

 from violence. I have seen her, it is true, give him a blow 

 with her paw, but this only occurs when the bird attempts to 

 take bread, &c., from her; and not always then, as she 

 frequently suffers herself to be robbed by him. Dick has 

 also made friends with my pointers. He sleeps in my bed- 

 room, but is by no means so early a riser as his fraternity in 

 a state of nature ; however, when he comes forth his antics 

 are amusing enough; he shakes himself, jumps and flies 

 about the room for several minutes, and then descends into 

 the breakfast-room." "Whether this bird would or would not 

 have continued tame and domesticated during the following 

 breeding season was unfortunately never ascertained, as it 

 partook of the fate of most pets, and was killed accidentally 

 by the opening of a door. 



The incapacity of pheasants for domestication has been 

 remarked by all those who have tried in vain to rear them as 

 domestic birds. The late Mr. Charles Waterton, of Walton 

 Hall, made the attempt under the most advantageous circum- 

 stances, and thus recounts the result of his experiments : 

 "Notwithstanding the proximity of the pheasant to the 

 nature of the barndoor fowl, still it has that within it which 

 baffles every attempt on our part to render its domestication 

 complete. What I allude to is, a most singular innate timidity, 

 which never fails to show itself on the sudden and abrupt 

 appearance of an object. I spent some months in trying to 

 overcome this timorous propensity in the pheasant, but I 

 failed completely in the attempt. The young birds, which 

 had been hatched under a domestic hen, soon became very 

 tame, and would even receive food from the hand when it was 



