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fhall, by foreign helps, give the bell account of 
it that I can gather. It was fent to England, a 
year or two ago, by Mr. John Bartram to you, 
with a letter giving fome account of it, and other 
matters; out of which letter I have extracted what 
follows: 4 Our pheafant was, I believe, wholly u«- 
‘ known to Catefby, it being more northern than Ca- 
4 rolina. They have been common (in Penlylvania), 
‘ but now molt of them are destroyed in the lower 
4 fettlements, tho’ the back Indian inhabitants bring 
4 them to market. When living, they eredt their 
4 tails like turkey-cocks, and raife a ring of feathers 
4 round their necks, and walk very ftately, making a 
4 noil'e a little like a turkey, when the hunter muff 
4 fire.. They thump in- a very remarkable manner, 
4 by clapping their wings again It their fides, as is fup- 
4 pofed, Handing on a’ fallen tree.- They begin their 
1 ftrokes at about two feconds of time dill ant from 
4 each other, and repeat them quicker and quicker, 
‘ until they found like, thunder at a diftance, which 
‘ lads about a minute, then ceafes for 6 or 8 minutes,. 
c and begins again. They mav be heard near half a 
4 mile, by which the hunters find them 1 . They ex- 
£ ercife their thumping in a morning and evening in 
‘ the fpring and fall of the year. Their food is ber- 
4 lies and feeds. Their flelli is white, and good. I 
4 believe they breed but once a year in the fpring, 
‘ and hatch i 2 or 14 at a fitting ; and thefe keep to- 
4 gether till the following fpring. They cannot be 
4 made tame. Many have,, to their difappointment, 
• attempted it by railing them under hens ; but, as 
4 loom as hatched, they efcaped into the woods, 
‘where they either provided for themfelves, or pe- 
rilhed.’ In 
