
NATURAL HISTORY. 95 
GOLDEN PHEASANT. or CHINA. 
"Tuns bird, which is faid to excel all the reftin 
beauty, is fo prolific, that, when in its wild ftate, it 
will lay pranek eggs, and upwards, being double the 
number they lay when dometticated. The, pheafant, 
of all wild birds, is moft eafily fhot. 
_ Befides thofe already mentioned, there are the 
‘horned Indian, red China, white China, peacock and 
- Brazilian pheafants.. c 
\ 
WP Seepencnenssiy— 
“ BUSTARD, 
I; the largeft native land bird of Britain; the male 
generally weighing twentyfive pounds. It is about 
nine feet bead, and four feet long. The head and 
neck are of anafh colour, and the back js barred 
tranfverfly with black, bright and ruft colour: The 
greater quill feathers are black; thofe on the belly 
-are white; the tail, which confifts of twenty feathers, 
has broad red and black ftripes; and the legs are of a 
dufky hue. 
The female is about half the fize of the male. They 
_ were formerly much more numerous than at prefent ; 
but the increafed cultivation of the country, , added 
to the extreme delicacy of its flefh, has cauled a great 
decreafe of the fpecies. Another circumftance, e- 
qually unfavourable to this bird, is its amazing fize, 
which renders it fo unwieldy and flow in flight, as ta 
_ render it almoft impoffible to efcape the aim of the ~ 
fport{man, : 
