4 PHEASANT. 



thestj trees, -which are denuded of their leaves in the winter, gives additional facilities 

 to the poacher for their destruction, as so large a bird is very readily seen on the almost 

 naked branches, and offers an easy mark to his gun. 



When undisturbed, this bird will not unfrequently associate with the barn-door fowl 

 around the farm-yard; and we have known many instances of their roosting among trees 

 within a very short distance of the house; but in such cases a gun was never discharged 

 anywhere near their haunts. Still, although the Pheasant courts our protection, and 

 will readily become tolerably familiar, it cannot be brought into a completely domestic 

 state. On this point, the opinion of, perhaps our first field naturalist, Charles Waterton, 

 will be considered decisive; for his known ingenuity and perseverance were doubtless 

 taxed to their utmost before he penned the following: — "Notwithstanding the proximity 

 of the Pheasant to the nature of the barn-door 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 offered cautiously to them; they would fly up 

 to the window, and would feed in company with the common poultry; but, if anybody 

 approached them unawares, off they went to the nearest cover, with surprising velocity; 

 they remained in it till all was quiet, and then returned with their usual confidence. 

 Two of them lost their lives in the water, by the unexpected appearance of a pointer; 

 while the barn-door fowls seemed scarcely to notice the presence of the intruder. The 

 rest took finally to the woods at the commencement of the breeding-season. This par- 

 ticular kind of timidity, which does not appear in our domestic fowls, seems to me to 

 oppose the only, though at the same time an insurmountable, bar to our final triumph 

 over the Pheasant. After attentive observation, I can perceive nothing else in the habits 

 of the bird, to serve as a clue by which we may be enabled to trace the cause of failure 

 in the many attempts which have been made to invite it to breed in our yards, and 

 retire to rest with the barn-door fowl and turkey." 



These remarks were written just twenty years ago, and each year has only confirmed their 

 truth. We have never known any one succeed to the extent Mr. Waterton did, at Walton, 

 though it is not uncommon for those that have been brought up by the domestic hen 

 to come regularly to be fed when called ; but their numbers will gradually diminish either 

 by desertion or destruction, till, as Mr. Waterton says, those that are left take to the 

 Avoods at the beginning of the breeding-season. 



The crowing of the Pheasant is continued the whole year at the time of roosting; it 

 is frequently heard through the night, and again at sunrise; and during the hours of 



