280 
GUINEA HEN, &c. Crass II. 
that kingdom before Darius and Megabyzus: at 
this time we know that thefe birds are found in a 
ftate of nature in the ifles of Tinian*, and others 
~ of the Jzdian ocean; and that in their wild condition 
PHEASANTS. 
GuiINEA 
Hews. 
their plumage is black and yellow, and their 
combs and wattles purple and yellow +. They were 
_early introduced into the weftern parts of the world; 
and have been very long naturalized in this country; 
long before the arrival of the Romans in this ifland, 
Czfar informing us, they were one of the forbidden 
foods of the old Britains. Thefe were in all pro- 
bability imported here by the Phenicians, who 
traded to Britain, about five hundred years before 
Chrift. For all other domeftic fowls, turkies, 
seefe, and ducks excepted, we feem to be indebted 
to our conquerors, the Romans. The wild fowl 
were all our own from the period they could be 
fuppofed to have reached us after the great event 
of the flood. 
Pheafants were firft brought into Europe from the 
banks of the Phafs, a river of Colchis. 
Argiva primim fum tranfportata carina, 
Ante mihi notum nil, nifi Phafs erat. 
Martial. lib. xiii. ep. 72. 
Guinea hens, the Meleagrides or Galline numidica 
* Dampier’s voy. 1. 392. Lord Axfon’s voy. 309. 
+ For this information we are indebted to governor Loten. 
of 
