14 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANT 



1 1 79. In France, as in England, the pheasant was 

 early protected by the Crown. Thus we find that 

 Charles IV. of France allowed only his nobles to take 

 pheasants in nets. In this connection may be no- 

 ticed the curious fact brought to light by Professor 

 Newton, that Henry VIII. seems from his privy 

 purse expenses to have had in his household in 1532 

 a French priest as a regular ' fesaunt-breeder.' ' Bro- 

 derip supplies an interesting note : ' We are told that 

 the price, of a pheasant was \d. in the time of our 

 first Edward' (1299). In 'The Forme of Cury,' 

 which is stated to have been compiled by the chief 

 master-cook of King Richard II., there is a recipe 

 'for to boile Fesant, Ptruch, Capons and Curlew,' 

 which carries us back to 1381. We read of the 



Fawkon and the Fesaunt both 

 in the old ballad of the ' Battle of Otterbourne.' At the 

 ' Intronazation of George Nevell,' Archbishop of York, 

 in the reign of our fourth Edward, we find among 

 the goodly provision, ' Fessauntes, 200.' In the 

 'Northumberland Household Book,' begun in 1512, 

 ' Fesauntes ' are valued at twelvepence each. In the 

 charges of Sir John Neville, of Chete, at Lammas As- 

 sizes, in the twentieth year of King Henry VIII., twelve 

 pheasantsare charged at twenty shillings ; and they seem 



' Dictionary of Birds, p. 714. 



