368 



PHEASANT. 



time also it erects a tuft of ear-like feathers on each side of the head. 

 The various tints of green-gold, blue, and violet, in the plumage, ex- 

 ceeds description, and is too well known to require it. The tail consists 

 of eighteen feathers, very cuneiform, the two middle ones about eigh- 

 teen or twenty inches long ; the legs are furnished with a spur three quar- 

 ters of an inch long ; toes joined by a strong membrane at the base. 



The female is not so large, of a rufous-brown colour, mixed with 

 grey and dusky ; the bill is brown ; irides hazel ; and the sides of the 

 head covered with feathers ; tail of the same shape, but not so long as 

 in the male. 



It is difficult perhaps to trace the origin of this species, where it came 

 from, or when first introduced into this country. Fleming- says it is of 

 Asiatic origin. It is now found in a state of nature in almost every part 

 of the old continent, except the northern, but is not known in America. 

 It bears confinement tolerably well, and produces a great many eggs in 

 that state. The female will sometimes incubate if not disturbed by the 

 male, which is too often the case ; on which account the eggs are gene- 

 rally put under a common fowl to be hatched : by this means a great 

 many are reared and given their liberty every year by gentlemen of 

 property. Were it not for this, probably the breed would be extinct in 

 a few years, in spite of the severity of the game laws. The demand for 

 them at the tables of the luxurious, and the irresistible mark they offer 

 to the sportsman, would soon cause their destruction in this age of ex- 

 cellence in the art of shooting flying. 



It is a foolish bird, and when roused will frequently perch on the first 

 tree, and is so intent upon the dogs as to suffer the sportsman to ap- 

 proach very near. At the time they perch they most frequently crow, 

 or make a chuckling noise, by which the unfair sportsman is led to their 

 destruction. The poachers catch them in nooses made of wire, horse- 

 hair twisted, and even with a briar set in the like manner at the 

 verge of a wood, for they always run to feed in the adjacent fields morn- 

 ing and evening. Besides this they are taken by a wire fastened to a 

 long- pole, and by that means taken off their roost at night ; or by fix- 

 ing a bunch of matches lighted at the end of a pole are suffocated, and 

 drop off the perch. Foxes also destroy a great many, in particular the 

 females when sitting on their nest. 



The Pheasant is found partially in most parts of England, but not so 

 plentiful in the north, and rarely in Scotland. Wood and corn land 

 seem necessary to its existence : it is partial to oak and beech woods, 

 on the seed of which it feeds ; buckwheat is also a favourite food. In 

 the autumn they frequent turnip fields. Large wooded tracts only pro- 

 duce them in abundance, and they mostly frequent the thickest and 



