This splendid bird was brought originally from Asia, but it is now
common in Europe, especially in the parks and preserves of England,
where it lives in a wild state.
_Anecdotes._--"It is not uncommon," says Warwick, "to see an old
pheasant feign itself wounded, and run along the ground, fluttering and
crying, before either dog or man, to draw them away from its helpless,
unfledged young ones. As I was hunting with a young pointer, the dog
ran on a brood of very small pheasants; the old bird cried, fluttered,
and ran tumbling along just before the dog's nose, till she had drawn
him to a considerable distance, when she took wing, and flew still
farther off. On this the dog returned to me, near the place where the
young ones were still concealed in the grass. This the old bird no
sooner perceived, than she flew back again to us, settled just before
the dog's nose, and, by rolling and tumbling about, drew off his
attention from her young, thus preserving them a second time."
A turkey cock, a common cock, and a pheasant, were kept in the same
farm-yard. After some time, the turkey was sent away to another farm.
After his departure, the cock and pheasant had a quarrel; the cock
beat, and the pheasant disappeared. In a few days he returned,
accompanied by the turkey; the two allies together fell upon the
unfortunate cock, and killed him.