98 



THE PHEASANT, 



habits of this bird, we are apt to doubt of the pro- 

 priety of placing it under the denomination of fercB 

 naturd ; and I am one of those who think that it 

 would be a better plan to put it on the same footing 

 with the barn-door fowl, by making it private pro- 

 perty ; that is, by considering it the property of the 

 person in whose field or wood it may be found. 

 The pheasant is a more than half-reclaimed bird. 

 While the hare and the partridge wander in wildest 

 freedom through the land, heedless of the fostering 

 care of man ; the bird in question will come to us, 

 at all hours of the day, to be fed. It will even some- 

 times associate with the poultry on the farm ; and, 

 where it is not disturbed, it will roost in trees, close 

 to our habitations. 



Its produce with the barn-door fowl is unprolific, 

 and seems to have nothing to recommend it to our 

 notice on the score of brilliancy of plumage, or of 

 fineness of shape. 



The pheasant crows at all sea^^ons, on retiring to 

 roost. It repeats the call often during the night, 

 and again at early dawn ; and frequently in the day- 

 time on the apppearance of an enemy, or at the re- 

 port of a gun, or during a thunder storm. I am of 

 opinion that it does not pair. The female lays from 

 seven to eighteen eggs; but in general the nest 

 contains about twelve. 



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 



