RETIRES FROM BUSINESS. 
19 
autumn; — then the young Pheasants of both sexes had 
assumed the pkunage of greyish yellow, variegated with 
brown and black, which closely resembles that of the 
mother-bird, and which they retain until the first moult 
as the distinctive mark of chickenhood. 
Then what a happy life was theirs ! — feasting and fro- 
licking all day long ^ in the pleasant shade of the leafy 
glade,' or in the golden sunshine of the open corn-field ; 
by the rushy pool which the heron haunts ; or in the sandy 
hollow where the rabbit burrows; gliding through the 
fern brakes, and threading the mazes of the tangled thicket, 
and resting awhile by the hedge-row bank, screened from 
view by the tall flowering grasses, or trying their young 
wings in the fir plantations, or from clump to clump of the 
stately trees which stud like islets the level sward of the 
park or paddock, where the dappled deer are browsing on 
the short sweet herbage. 
Still does the hen-bird share in their pleasures and 
sports, and direct them to those spots where food is most 
plentiful and easily procured — worms and various insects, 
the tender shoots of many plants, bulbous and other roots, 
&c. ; and as the autumn advances, and their strength 
matures, so that they are able to take and digest stronger 
food, they obtain a plentiful supply of grain, acorns, beech- 
nuts, and the wild fruits of the hedges and thickets ; and 
when these fail, they have but to resort to the home en- 
closure, and they will find that man has not been unmindful 
of their care and sustenance. But ere that period arrives 
they will often have been alarmed and scattered by the 
report of the deadly gun, the sound of the human voice, 
and the stealthy tread of the well-trained pointer, all tell- 
ing that the season of destruction has arrived, if not for 
them, whose want of age will in most cases prove an 
exception, yet for many of their friends and relatives, 
perhaps for that tender parent who has watched over them 
so carefully and long. 
In the meantime, what has become of the cock-Pheasant, 
the great object of pursuit and admiration in the glorious 
month of October, and far into the winter ? As soon as 
the season of reproduction was over, he left the female bird 
B 2 
