368 PHEASANT. 
time also it erects a tuft of ear-like feathers on each side of the head. 
The various tints of green-g-old, 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 tallies 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 
