Some PHEASANTS(7) were there, too, in robes of bright dye;

The Rooks, e'er gregarious, came soaring on high:

resemble chern, chern, by which it is said to conduct the inhabitants to the nests of the wild bees; hence, it is highly esteemed by the Hottentots, who deem it criminal to injure or destroy it.

The Honoratus, or the SACRED CUCKOO, having a blackish body spotted with white, inhabits Malabar; feeds on reptiles injurious to vegetation, and hence preserved with great care, and venerated by the natives.

The Vetula, or LONG-BILLED RAIN CUCKOO, inhabits Jamaica, is easily tamed, and sings before rain; it is fifteen inches long, body brownish, bill long, flies short, feeds on insects, worms, and small serpents.

The Orientalis, a native of Java, has a note conveyed by the letters Toohoo; or, as Dr. HORSFIELD has it, Tuhu.

The Flavus is also a native of Java, and perhaps the most musical of the tribe; it has three different strains. It is considered, however, by the natives of that island, as a bird of bad omen.-HORSfield.

(7) ORDER, GALLINA, (Linn.) PHEASANT, the COMMON, the COURIER, the GOLDEN, COCK and HEN, &c.

The Genus PHASIANUS of Linnæus, or PHEASANT, consists of twenty-four species scattered over the globe; it includes, not only the Pheasant, properly so called, but also the Cock and Hen, those well-known domestic birds. This tribe is distinguished by a short, strong bill; cheeks covered with a smooth, naked skin; legs generally with spurs. The following are the chief:

The Colchicus, PHEASANT, or COMMON PHEASANT, comprises the following varieties:-Common Pheasant, rufous, head blue ;— the Ringed Pheasant, collar white;-the Variegated Pheasant,

Those whom soon will science instruct us to know, By their white-yellow beaks from the black of the CROW.

white varied with rufous;-the White Pheasant, white, with small black spots on the neck ;-the Pied Pheasant, rufous, varied with brown; -the Turkey Pheasant. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and Africa; from two to three feet long; domesticated every where; in breeding time, above the ears on each side, is a golden feathered tuft like a horn. From its being a bird of heavy flight, it has never been able to visit America. It is said, however, to be reared in St. Domingo, where it was taken by the Spaniards. Of all birds, except the peacock, the pheasant has the most beautiful and variegated plumage. The varieties are produced either by climate or domestication. In its wild state, it feeds upon all kinds of grain and herbage, and, doubtless, worms. The nest is rude, and on the ground, in some secret place; eggs from twelve to twenty; when they are carried away, the female continues to lay like the common hen. The young must be supplied with ant's eggs, their only proper food. From its size, and the delicacy of its flesh, the pheasant is, of course, a valuable bird; although plentiful in some districts of this country, it is not so common in the north, and is rarely seen in Scotland; nor is it found often on marshy land, even in the west, although plentifully there on hilly regions, where shelter and food can be obtained. POPE has finely, yet painfully, described the Pheasant in his Windsor Forest:

"See! from the brake the whirring pheasant springs,
And mounts exulting on triumphant wings;

Short is his joy, he feels the fiery wound,

Flutters in blood, and panting, beats the ground.
Ah! what avail his glossy varying dyes,

His purple crest and scarlet-circled eyes,
The vivid green his shining plumes unfold,

His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold!"

H

Those whom MAN, for his SPORT, is oft pleas'd to

destroy,

Amidst vinous libations and boisterous joy.

This, of course, applies to the cock pheasant; the colours of the hen are neither so intense nor brilliant.

The Gallus, or COMMON COCK and HEN, are too well known to need description. Fifteen varieties have been named, as follow: the Wild Cock, the Common Cock, the Crested Cock, the Darking Cock, the Frizzled Cock, the Persian Cock, the Dwarf Cock, the Bantam Cock, the Rough-legged Cock, the Turkish Cock, the Paduan Cock, the Negro Cock, the Crowned Hen, the Horned Cock, and the Silk Cock.

The cock and hen came originally from Asia. The common hen is, perhaps, the most prolific of birds; if well fed, excepting about two months in the moulting season, she frequently lays an egg a day. When in a wild state, she begins to sit upon her eggs, after laying fifteen or sixteen; and, it is only from the circumstance of taking away the eggs, that she produces a greater number when domesticated.

In Egypt, the eggs of the hen are hatched in stoves peculiarly adapted to the purpose; but it does not appear, from all the experiments hitherto made in this country, including those by the aid of steam, that any method of rearing chicken which has been devised, is so good as that of suffering the hen herself to hatch and rear her own offspring. The reader, who should be desirous of obtaining more information relative to the rearing and management of domestic poultry, may consult my Family Cyclopædia articles, HEN, DUCK, GOOSE, TURKEY, &c. It seems probable, however, that the hatching of chicken by STEAM in towns, where ROOM is wanted for the roving of the natural hen, and, of course, with difficulty obtained, might be made useful and profitable, chiefly by an equable application of heat as a succedaneum for the brooding of the natural mother.

The cock is, naturally, a very pugnacious animal; the young

Yes, hath HE, of high intellect, oft, in his pride, With the blood of the Rook his hands wantonly dyed.

cock chicken begin to fight long before they are half grown. The full grown cock will often attack animals much larger than himself; the cock turkey is, in general, no match for him. I once had a cock so extremely violent and fierce, that young persons could not venture near him; he has even frequently attacked grown people.

The cock has been a subject of considerable interest with the poets; and, in consequence, he has been very commonly called by them "Chanticleer."

"Within this homestead liv'd without a peer

For crowing loud, the noble Chanticleer."-Dryden.

MILTON has also finely described this bird.

"While the cock with lively din

Scatters the rear of darkness thin;

And to the stack, or the barn door,

Stoutly struts his dames before."—L'ALLEGRO.

Of the game of cock-fighting, I can only say, that it is a barbarous sport, and ill becomes an intelligent being; the same may be said of cock-squailing, a sport, I am afraid, not yet wholly unknown in the west. See my Observations on the Dialects of the

West of England, &c.

The Mexicanus, or COURIER PHEASANT, is tawny-white; tail long, shining green; inhabits New Spain; eighteen inches long; slow in flight, but runs fast. The Cristatus, or CRESTED PHEASANT, is brown above, beneath reddish-white, head crested; twenty-two inches long; feeds on serpents, worms, and insects; inhabits New Spain. The Superbus, or GOLDEN CHINESE PHEASANT, is rufous, varied with green and blue; without spurs; inhabits China. The Argus, or ARGUS PHEASANT, is pale yellow, spotted with black; face red; size of a turkey; inhabits Chinese Tartary.

то THE ROOK.

Corvus Frugilegus. (LINN.)

THOU Social, thou noisy, intelligent BIRD!
How oft I, delighted, thy cawing have heard!
When infancy prompted my lisp, thy loud voice
I heard soon as morning arose to rejoice;

And my youth, long beside thy high dwelling, was taught

That happiness was not in towns to be sought;

And since hath experience proclaim'd the same

truth,

Which, alas! I had heard, but obey'd not in youth.
How oft have I seen thee, with labouring breast,
Long branches and twigs bear to fashion thy nest,
While the wind drove thee far from thy dwelling

away,

Till, wheeling around, thou regained'st the spray ;·
Then, plucking the hairs from the back of the ox;
Or, seeking of wool many soft and warm locks.
How oft have I seen, heard thee provender bring,—
Feed thy mate, or thy young, and away on the
wing.*

The noise made by the female rook, during her incubation, at the approach of the male with food, and when receiving it from him, and that made also by the young rooks, at the approach of the parent bird, is so singular, and so well known by those acquainted with it, that hearing it alone is sufficient to indicate what process is about to take place.