68 P H A S I 
It inhabits Japan ; but is fcarce in China, where the Can- 
tonefe carry them about in cages for fale to the Euro¬ 
peans. 
2. Phafianus Colchicus, the pheafant: rufous; head 
blue; cheeks red, papillous; bill pale horn-colour; tail 
■wedged. 
This beautiful bird is about nineteen inches long, and 
weighs from two pounds twelve ounces to three pounds 
four ounces. It is faid to have been brought from the 
ifland of Colchis by the Argonauts. That bold body of 
adventurers faw, in afcending the Phafis, thefe beautiful 
birds fcattered along its banks ; they carried them home 
to Greece, and in doing fo they conferred a richer prefent 
than that of the golden fleece. Even at prefent the phea- 
fants of Colchis or Mingrelia, and fome other countries 
bordering on the Cafpian, are the fined and larged that 
are known. From thence they have fpread wed ward 
through Greece, from the fhores of the Baltic to the Cape 
of Good Hope, and the ifland of Madagafcar; and ead- 
ward, through Media, to the remoted parts of China and 
Japan, and even into Tartary. Media feems particularly 
congenial to the nature of birds, being flocked with the 
mod excellent poultry, and the mod beautiful peacocks, 
as well as pheafants. They are exceedingly numerous in 
Africa, efpecially on the flave-coad, the gola-coad, the 
ivory-coafl, the country of Iflini, and the kingdoms of 
Congo and Angola, where the negroes call them galig- 
no'es. They are now common in different parts of Europe ; 
as Spain, Italy, the Milanefe, fome iflands in the gulf of 
Naples, in Germany, France, and England. 
It is noteafy to afcertain at what period the pheafant 
was introduced into Britain. We have not at hand the 
early accounts of feads and cookery in the reign of Ed¬ 
ward II. or III. publifhed by fome of the members of the 
Antiquarian Society; but probably this bird was fora 
long time kept in a domedic date, like common poultry. 
For a long period it was fuppofed to be a delicate bird, 
that w ould not bear a very northern climate, or even a 
very inland fituation. It has ever been mod abundant 
in the maritime corn-counties ; but of late it has been 
proved that there is no part of Great Britain where this 
bird will not thrive well, if there be flielterof woodlands 
and food in the winter feafon. About fifty years ago 
the pheafant was introduced into the fouth-ead county 
of Scotland, which, for climate, {belter, and food, is per¬ 
haps the bed; but, within the lad tw'enty years, feveral 
gentlemen have attempted to naturalife it in the counties 
of Fife and Forfar, north of the Forth. The experiment 
has fucceeded completely; for few edates are better 
flocked than thofe of Raith, Wemyfs-caAle, and Dunni- 
kier, in Fife, nor Roflie priory and Brechin-caflle, north 
of the river Tay. The earl of Fife has flocked his 
edates in Bamfffliire : and even fo far north the pheafant 
thrives well. In the wed of Scotland we are not informed 
if the pheafant has as yet been tried beyond' Ayrfhire, 
where, however, it abounds on the edates of the earls of 
Eglington and Caffdlis. 
If the following grant of Dengy Hundred, in Effex, be 
not a monkifh forgery, pheafants mud- have been intro¬ 
duced long before the time of Edward the Confeffor. 
The grant is by Edward to Randolph Peperking, to be 
found in the records of the Exchequer. 
Iche Edward Koning 
Have given of my forefl and keeping, 
Of the hundred of Chelmer and Dancing, 
To Randulph Peperking, and to his kindling, 
With harte and liinde, doe and bocke, 
Hare and fox, cat and brocke, 
Wilde fowell, with his fiocke, 
j Fefant-hen and fefaiit-cocke, 
With greene and wilde flob and fiocke; 
&c. &c. &c. 
Hence it is not improbable that the lad of the Romans 
may have imported the pheafant into Britain. Indeed, 
ANUS. - 
we have always confidered that the Romans in the lad 
half-century of their refidence in this ifland may have in¬ 
troduced more arts and refinements than we are at prefent 
aware of, which, in fpite of the many barbarous invafions 
of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, never were lod and for¬ 
gotten. 
Pennant affirms, that in the whole extent of Great Bri¬ 
tain, there is not a Angle original wild pheafant, all having 
been produced from foreign pairs, or eggs, introduced 
here on purpofe to breed them ; which has fo far fuc¬ 
ceeded, that they now abound in almod all the large co¬ 
verts and mod fwampy coppices throughout the king¬ 
dom, where a protecting eye is held over them. It is, 
in fome refpefts, the fame in Scotland and Ireland, on 
thofe edates where they are protected. Linnaeus takes 
no notice of them in the enumeration he has given of the 
Swedifh birds. In the time of Schwenckfeld they were 
very rare in Silefia ; and it is only of late that they were 
introduced into Pruflia, though they are very frequent in 
Bohemia and Saxony. Gefner, who travelled through the 
mountains of Swifferland, affirms that he never faw any. 
It is true, indeed, that Stumpfius afferts the contrary ; 
but it is probable that they may be found in fome dif- 
triCls which Gefner had not examined, as in that part 
which borders on the Milanefe territories, where Olina 
fays they are very common ; and they are known to prowl 
far and wide. 
Since the wings of the pheafant are fhort, and its flight 
low and laborious, we may readily conclude that it could 
not traverfe the immenfe ocean that divides America from 
the temperate countries in the ancient continent. Ac¬ 
cordingly, none have been found in the New World ; 
but, under the liberal government of the American dates, 
there is no doubt but this bird, if not already introduced, 
will very fhortly be propagated in that immenfe country, 
particularly in the large fwampy forefls fo congenial to 
their nature, and where in a few years they would nurne- 
roufly abound for fport and for the table. 
The pheafant is of the fize of the common cock, and 
in fome refpefts rivals the peacock in beauty. His figure 
is as dignified, his deportment as bold, and his plumage 
almod as refplendent. The colours of the Chinefe phea¬ 
fant are even brighter; but he has not, like the peacock, 
the power of difplaying his rich plumage, and of eleva¬ 
ting the long feathers of his tail. Befides, the pheafant 
has neither the crefl of the peacock, nor the double tail. 
The mod remarkable charadfers in its appearance are, the 
two fpots of deep fcarlet in the middle of which the 
eyes are placed, and the two tufts of feathers of a gold 
green, which, in the love feafon, rife on each fide under 
the ears. Thefe tufts are probably what Pliny calls fome- 
times “ ears,” fometimes “ little horns.” A prominence 
is obferved at their bafe, formed by an eredior mufcle. 
Befides thefe, the pheafant is furniflied with feathers at 
each ear, to clofe at pleafure the orifice, which is very 
large. The feathers of the tail and rump have their ends 
bifid, or heart-fliaped, like fome of the tail-feathers of the 
peacock. The {hafts of the feathers of the neck and the 
back, are of a fine bright yellow, and appear like fo many 
plates of gold. The coverts under the tail continue di- 
minifhing, and terminate in a kind of filaments. The 
tail confids of eighteen quills ; the two middle ones are 
thelongedof all, and they fliorten regularly towards the 
fides. Each leg is furnilhed with a fhort pointed fpur ; 
the toes are connedfed by a membrane broader than ufual 
in pulverulent birds, and feems to form the firfl {hade 
between thefe and the aquatic tribes ; and in fa 61 the 
pheafant delights in wet places; and will not be confined 
to woods deflitute of fwamps, or moory places. 
Though introduced and bred up under the mod tender 
care, and habituated to the fociety of man, yet pheafants 
retire as far as poflible from all human dwellings ; for 
thefe birds are naturally wild and difficult to tame. It is 
faid, however, that they can be indrudfed to return at 
the found of a whiflle; that is, they can be attradled by 
this 
