AND A FUGITIVE. 
21 
picture of Pheasant life at this season, given by Thomas 
Miller, in his ^ Beauties of the Country,' which we think 
our readers will like to look upon again, even though it 
should be familiar to them. 
* What a lordly creature a Pheasant looks, moving along 
the grassy glade of a wood, now erecting his head as if to 
listen, while perchance a sunbeam falls upon his burnished 
neck, then stooping to pick up a fallen acorn, the long 
plumes of his tail swaying in the wind like silken pennons, 
or, alarmed by the rustling of the long reeds, plunging 
among the underwood, or Happing his way to the ivied 
arm of a tree ! How beautiful appears a flock of these 
birds, feeding upon the wild wood-fruits in some seques- 
tered path, which is seldom trodden by any foot saving 
their own ! What terrible havoc the murderous gun makes 
cf their splendid feathers, scattering their gold and crimson 
and purple plumes upon the wind, and drawing down the 
bright scarlet rim that encircles the deep shining eyes 
which the filmy darkness covers ! The sound of their 
voices, too, calling to each other from the distant thickets, 
harmonises well with the silence of the scene. Then to 
come upon them unawares when they are squatting among 
the tangled grass and plants, and see them spring up, and, 
with a loud noise, whirr through the woven branches to 
some more secret covert, is a beautiful and striking sight, 
especially in the month of October, when every motion of 
their strong wings scatters a shower of golden leaves to the 
ground.' 
Will our readers bear with us, if we endeavour to extend 
this piece of nature -painting, so as to include a few more 
incidents of Pheasant life, whose greatest perils commence 
in the season here described? When the golden-haired 
September has whistled out his merry tune over the hill- 
tops, and the broad round hunter's moon has shone full 
upon the cleared stubble field, and the hedges festooned 
with the feathery clematis ; when the barns and rick-yards 
are full, and the squirrel and dormouse are beginning to 
store acorns and hazel nuts for the coming winter, then 
See, from the brake the whirring pheasant springs, 
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings. 
