236 THE COOKERY OF THE PHEASANT 



modern taste has been purified, and its tendency is 

 towards simplification. The menus of the most 

 sumptuous tables have gradually been cut down, till 

 moderation in high, places can hardly go further. So 

 the pheasant has been coming more and more into 

 favour, for where the plats are few and select, he is 

 more and more indispensable. 



For if he is not acclimatised congenially in all the 

 Western countries, where civilisation has diffused itself, 

 at least he is within easy reach. Yet, as we said, he de- 

 pends greatly on location, and in these days of express 

 trains and swift and punctual delivery, it is sometimes 

 better to bring the birds from a distance. This may 

 be safely laid down as an axiom, that the wilder the 

 pheasant, the better the flesh. The corollary is, that 

 buying at a poulterer's is very much of a lottery, in 

 which the blanks are many, and the prizes few. The 

 shops are overstocked in the season of the battues, and 

 the vast majority of the birds have been fattened 

 like domestic poultry. In his wild condition the phea- 

 sant is a roving epicure. When the sun is sinking 

 towards the horizon he wanders forth in quest of a 

 supper. Naturally, for his pikes de resistance, he pays 

 a visit in the autumn to the stubbles, with their rich 

 scattering of golden grain. Nothing in the way of 

 insects comes much amiss to him ; he pecks very 



