Part 67
The perch affords the angler great diversion, and not only the baits are various, but the modes of using them. Of worms, the best kinds are small lob-worms which have no knot, brandlings, red dunghills, or those found in rotten tan, all well scoured; the hook may be varied from No. 2 to 6, being well whipt to a strong silk-worm gut, with a shot or two a foot from it: put the point of the hook in at the head of the worm, out again a little lower than the middle, pushing it above the shank of the hook upon the gut; take a smaller one, beginning the same way, and bring its head up to the middle of the shank only; then draw the first worm down to the head of the latter, so that the tails may hang one above the other, keeping the point of the hook well covered. This is the most enticing method that can be adopted in worm-fishing; use a small cork float, to keep the bait at six or twelve inches from the bottom, or sometimes about midwater: in angling near the bottom, raise the bait very frequently from thence almost to the surface, letting it gradually fall again. Should a good shoal be met with, they are so greedy, that they may be all caught, unless one escapes that has felt the hook: then all is over, the fish that has been hooked becomes restless, and soon occasions the whole shoal to leave the place. Two or three rods may be employed, as they require time to gorge sufficient to allow the angler to be prepared to strike them.
Baits for the perch are loaches, sticklebacks, with the spines cut off, miller’s-thumbs, horse-beans boiled (after the place has been well-baited with them, put one at a time on the hook), cad-bait, bobs, and gentles.
Although generally termed a bold biter, the perch is extremely abstemious in winter, and scarcely ever bites in that season, but in the middle of a warm sunshiny day; he bites best in the latter part of the spring, from seven to eleven in the forenoon, and from two to six in the afternoon, except in hot and bright weather, and then from sunrise to six in the morning, and in the eve from six to sunset. If a day be cool and cloudy, with a ruffling south wind, perch will bite during the whole of it. In clear water, sometimes a dozen or more of perch have been observed in a deep hole, sheltered by trees or bushes; by using fine tackle and a well-scoured worm, the angler may see them strive which shall first seize it, until the whole shoal have been caught.
The perch may be angled for and taken until the end of September, and indeed at particular times all the year round; but the preferable season is from the beginning of May, to the middle of July.
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Mr. Young mentions that, at Pakenham, Lord Longford informed him respecting the quantities of fish in the lakes in his neighbourhood, that the perch were so numerous, that a child with a packthread and a crooked pin would catch enough in an hour for the daily use of a whole family, and that his lordship had seen five hundred children fishing at the same time; that, besides perch, the lakes produced pike five feet long, and trout of ten pounds each.
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Great numbers of perch are bred in the Hampton Court and Bushy Park ponds, all of which are well supplied with running water, and with plenty of food, yet they seldom arrive at a large size. In a neighbouring pond, which is only fed with drainage water, I have caught very large perch. The perch in the water in the Regent’s Park are very numerous. Those I have taken, however, are almost invariably of one size, from half to three-quarters of a pound. Why they should have arrived at this weight and not go on increasing in size, is a circumstance which it is not easy to account for. I have, however, remarked it to be the case in other ponds.—_Daniel_—_Wild Sports_—_Jesse._
PERCUSSION, _s._ The impression a body makes in falling or sticking upon another. It is _direct_ or _oblique_. Direct when the impulse is made in the direction of a perpendicular line to the point of impact. Such is the action of a cock upon the copper cap. _Vide_ GUN, RIFLE, APPENDIX.
PEWET, _s._ A waterfowl; the lapwing.
PEWTER, _s._ A composition of lead and tin.
PHEASANT, (_Phasianus Colchicus_, LINN.; _Le Faisan_, BUFF.) _s._ A kind of wild cock; a beautiful large bird of game.
The pheasant is rather less than the common cock. The bill is of a pale horn colour; the nostrils are hid under an arched covering; the eyes are yellow, and surrounded by a space, in appearance like beautiful scarlet cloth, finely spotted with black; immediately under each eye there is a small patch of short feathers of a dark glossy purple; the upper parts of the head and neck are of a deep purple, varying to glossy green and blue; the lower parts of the neck and breast are of a reddish chestnut, with black indented edges; the sides and lower parts of the breast are of the same colour, with pretty large tips of black to each feather, which in different lights vary to a glossy purple; the belly and vent are dusky; the back and scapulars are beautifully variegated with black and white or cream-colour speckled with black, and mixed with deep orange, all the feathers are edged with black; on the lower part of the back there is a mixture of green; the quills are dusky, freckled with white, wing coverts brown, glossed with green and edged with white; rump plain reddish brown; the two middle feathers of the tail are about twenty inches long, the shortest on each side less than five, of a reddish brown colour, marked with transverse bars of black; the legs are dusky, with a short blunt spur on each, but in some old birds the spurs are as sharp as needles; between the toes there is a strong membrane.
The female is less, and does not exhibit that variety and brilliancy of colours which distinguish the male; the general colours are light and dark brown, mixed with black, the breast and belly finely freckled with small black spots on a light ground; the tail is short, and barred somewhat like that of the male; the space round the eye is covered with feathers.
The ring pheasant is a fine variety of this species; its principal difference consists in a white ring, which encircles the lower part of the neck; the colours of the plumage in general are likewise more distinct and vivid. A fine specimen of this bird was sent us by the Rev. William Turner, of Newcastle, from which the figure was engraven. They are sometimes met with in the neighbourhood of Alnwick, whither they were brought by his grace the Duke of Northumberland. That they intermix with the common breed is very obvious, as in some we have seen the ring was hardly visible, and in others a few feathers only, marked with white, appeared on each side of the neck, forming a white spot. It is much to be regretted that this beautiful breed is likely soon to be destroyed, by those who pursue every species of game with an avaricious and indiscriminating rapacity.
There are many varieties of pheasants of extraordinary beauty and brilliancy of colours; in many gentlemen’s woods there is a kind as white as snow, which will intermix with the common ones. Many of the gold and silver kinds, brought from China, are also kept in aviaries in this kingdom; the common pheasant is likewise a native of the East, and is the only one of its kind that has multiplied in our island. Pheasants are generally found in low woody places, on the borders of plains, where they delight to sport; during the night they perch on the branches of trees. They are very shy birds, and do not associate together, except during the months of March and April, when the male seeks the female; they are then easily discoverable by the noise which they make in crowing and clapping their wings, which may be heard at some distance. The hen breeds on the ground like the partridge, and lays from twelve to fifteen eggs, which are smaller than those of the common hen; the young follow the mother as soon as they are freed from the shell. During the breeding season the cocks will sometimes intermix with the common hen, and produce a hybrid breed, of which we have known several instances.
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For shooting pheasants it often becomes necessary to start very early in the morning, as they are apt to lie during the day in high covert, where it is almost impossible to shoot them till the leaf has fallen from the trees. We can never be at a loss in knowing where to go for pheasants, as we have only to send some one the previous evening, for the last hour before sun-set, to watch the different barley or oat stubbles of a woodland country, and on these will be regularly displayed the whole contents of the neighbouring coverts. It then remains to be chosen, which woods are the best calculated to shoot in; and, when we begin beating them, it must be remembered to draw the springs, so as to intercept the birds from the old wood. If the coverts are wet, the hedge-rows will be an excellent beginning, provided we here also attend well to getting between the birds and their places of security. If pheasants, when feeding, are approached by a man, they generally run into covert; but if they see a dog, they are apt to fly up.
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There are very few old sportsmen but what are aware that this is by far the most sure method of killing pheasants, or any other game, where they are tolerably plentiful in covert; and although to explore and beat several hundred acres of coppice, it becomes necessary to have a party with spaniels, yet, on such expeditions, we rarely hear of any one getting much game to his own share, except some sly old fellow, who has shirked from his companions to the end of the wood, where the pheasants, and particularly the cock birds, on hearing the approach of a rabble, are all running like a retreating army, and perhaps flying in his face faster than he can load and fire.
For one alone to get shots in a thick underwood, a brace or two of very well broke spaniels would, of course, be the best. But were I obliged to stake a considerable bet (taking one beat with another, where game was plentiful), I should back against the sportsman using them, one who took out a very high couraged old pointer, that would keep near him, and would, on being told, break his point to dash in, and put the pheasants to flight before they could run out of shot. This office may be also performed by a Newfoundland dog; but, as first getting a point would direct the shooter where to place himself for a fair shot, the Newfoundland dog would always be best kept close to his heels, and only made use of to assist in this; and particularly for bringing the game; as we rarely see a pointer, however expert in fetching his birds, that can follow and find the wounded ones half so well as the real St. John’s Newfoundland dog.
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Lord Stawell sent me from the great lodge in the Holt a curious bird for my inspection. It was found by the spaniels of one of his keepers in a coppice, and shot on the wing. The shape, air, and habit of the bird, and the scarlet ring round the eyes, agreed well with the appearance of a cock pheasant; but then the head and neck, and breast and belly, were of a glossy black: and though it weighed three pounds three ounces and a half, the weight of a large full-grown cock pheasant, yet there were no signs of any spurs on the legs, as is usual with all grown cock pheasants, who have long ones. The legs and feet were naked of feathers, and therefore it could be nothing of the grouse kind. In the tail were no long bending feathers, such as cock pheasants usually have, and are characteristic of the sex. The tail was much shorter than the tail of a hen pheasant, and blunt and square at the end. The back, wing-feathers and tail, were all of a pale russet, curiously streaked, somewhat like the upper parts of a hen partridge. I returned it with my verdict, that it was probably a spurious or hybrid hen bird, bred between a cock pheasant and some domestic fowl. When I came to talk with the keeper who brought it, he told me that some pea-hens had been known last summer to haunt the coppices and coverts where this mule was found.
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The pheasant is not a long-lived bird; but it is probable the period of existence assigned to it by some writers, namely, six or seven years, is too short. The wholesomeness of its flesh was proverbial among the old physicians; it is of a high flavour and alkalescent quality, and in perfection during autumn. A young pheasant very fat is reckoned an exquisite dainty. In a wild state, the hen lays from eighteen to twenty eggs in a season, but seldom more than ten in a state of confinement. Pheasants are not to be tamed by domestication, like other fowls; nor is the flesh of those brought up in the house, in any degree comparable to that of the wild pheasant: thence they are bred at home, either merely for show, or for the purpose of replenishing the proprietor’s grounds, both with regard to number or particular varieties. However good nursing mothers in a wild state, pheasant hens are far otherwise in the house, whence their eggs are always hatched at home by the common hen,—generally, at present, by the smooth-legged bantam.
The natural nest of the pheasant is composed of dry grass and leaves, which being provided for her in confinement she will sometimes properly dispose. The cock is bold, voracious, and cruel; and one which I had many years ago, caught a canary bird which had accidentally escaped, and was observed with it beneath his talons, in the proper attitude of the hawk, tearing it to pieces and devouring it. Pheasants have been seen preying upon a dead carcase, in company with carrion crows; and it has been said that they will fall upon a diseased and weak companion of their own species, and devour it. They feed upon all kinds of insects and vermin, like the peacock, and are said to be particularly greedy of toads, provided they be not too large to swallow; whereas, according to report, they will not touch the frog, of which ducks are so fond. A pheasant was shot by T. Day, Esq. of Herts, the crop of which contained more than half a pint of that destructive insect the wire-worm. And the number of 1606 grains of barley were taken from the crop of a pheasant, at Bury, in Suffolk, in 1727.
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The best known varieties of the pheasant, are the golden, the silver, the peacock or spotted, and the common European or English, generally brown, with a less brilliancy of colour. Mr. Castang, however, enumerates six distinct varieties, exclusive of the common, as follow: the gold and silver, natives of China, and very hardy in this country, and good breeders. The ring-necks, natives of Tartary, bred in China, very scarce; their plumage very beautiful. The white and pied; both sorts will intermix readily with our common breed, as will the Bohemian, one of the most beautiful of its kind, and equally scarce. The golden variety is generally of the highest price, the common most hardy and of the largest size.
_Breeding Pheasants._—Eggs being provided, put them under a hen that has kept the nest three or four days; and if you set two or three nests on the same day, you will have the advantage of shifting the good eggs. At the end of ten or twelve days, throw away those that are bad, and set the same hen or hens again, if sitting hens should not be plenty.
The hens having sat their full time, such of the young pheasants as are already hatched put into a basket, with a piece of flannel, till the hen has done hatching.
The brood, now come, put under a frame with a net over it, and a place for the hen, that she cannot get to the young pheasants, but that they may go to her: and feed them with boiled egg cut small, boiled milk and bread, alum curd, ants’ eggs, a little of each sort, and often.
After two or three days, they will be acquainted with the call of the hen that hatched them, may have their liberty of running on the grass-plot, or elsewhere, observing to shift them with the sun, and out of the cold winds. They should not have their liberty in the morning till the sun is up; and they must be shut in with the hen in good time in the evening.
Every thing now going on properly, you must be very careful (in order to guard against the distemper to which they are liable) in your choice of a situation for breeding the birds up; and be less afraid of foxes, dogs, pole-cats, and all sorts of vermin, than the _distemper_. I had rather encounter all the former than the latter; for those, with care, may be prevented, but the distemper, once got in, is like the plague, and destroys all your hopes. What I mean by a good situation, is nothing more than a place where no poultry, pheasants, or turkeys, &c. have ever been kept; such as the warm side of a field, orchard, pleasure-ground, or garden, or even on a common, or a good green lane, under circumstances of this kind; or by a wood-side; but then it is proper for a man to keep with them under a temporary hovel, and to have two or three dogs chained at a proper distance, with a lamp or two at night. I have known a great number of pheasants bred up in this manner, in the most exposed situations. It is proper for the man always to have a gun, that he may keep off the hawks, owls, jays, magpies, &c. The dogs and lamps intimidate the foxes beyond any other means; and the dogs will give tongue for the man to be on his guard if smaller vermin are near, or when strollers make their appearance.
The birds going on as before mentioned, should so continue till December, or, if very early bred, the middle of August. Before they begin to shift the long feathers in the tail, they are to be shut up in the basket with the hen, regularly every night; and when they begin to shift their tail the birds are large, and begin to lie out, that is, they are not willing to come to be shut up in the basket. Those that are intended to be turned out wild should be taught to perch (a situation they have never been used to); this is done by tying a string to the hen’s leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all night: be sure you put her in the tree before sun-set; and if she falls down, you must persevere in putting her up again, till she is contented with her situation; then the young birds will follow the hen, and perch with her. This being done, and the country now covered with corn, fruits, and shrubs, &c. &c. they will shift for themselves.
For such young pheasants as you make choice of for your breeding stock at home, and likewise to turn out in the spring following, provide a new piece of ground, large and roomy, for two pens, where no pheasants, &c. have been kept, and there put your young birds in as they begin to shift their tails. Such of them as you intend to turn out at a future time, or in another place, put into one pen netted over, and leave their wings as they are; and those you wish to keep for breeding put into the other pen, cutting one wing of each bird. The gold and silver pheasants you must pen earlier, or they will be off. Cut the wing often; and, when first penned, feed all your young birds with barley-meal, dough, corn, and plenty of green turnips.
_A Receipt to make Alum Curd._—Take new milk, as much as your young birds require, and boil it with a lump of alum, so as not to make the curd hard and tough, but custard like.
N.B.—A little of this curd twice a day, and ants’ eggs after every time they have had a sufficient quantity of the other food. If they do not eat heartily, give them some ants’ eggs to create an appetite, but by no means in such abundance as to be considered their food.
The distemper alluded to above, is not improbably of the same nature as the roup in chickens; contagious, and dependent on the state of the weather; and, for prevention, requiring similar precaution.
_General Directions._—Not more than four hens to be allowed in the pens to one cock; and in the out covers, three hens to one cock may be sufficient, with the view of allowing for accidents, such as the loss of a cock or hen. Never put more eggs under a hen than she can well and closely cover, the eggs fresh and carefully preserved. Short broods to be joined and shifted to one hen. Common hen pheasants in close pens, and with plenty of cover, will sometimes make their nests and hatch their own eggs, but they seldom succeed in rearing their brood, being so naturally shy; whence, should this method be desired, they must be left entirely to themselves, as they feel alarm even in being looked at. Eggs for setting are generally ready in April. Period of incubation the same in the pheasant as in the common hen. Pheasants, like the pea-owl, will clear grounds of insects and reptiles, but will spoil all wall-trees within their reach, by pecking off every bud and leaf.
_Feeding._—Strict cleanliness to be observed, the meat not to be tainted with dung, and the water to be pure and often renewed. Ants’ eggs being scarce, hog-lice, earwigs, or any insects, may be given; or artificial ants’ eggs substituted, composed of flour beaten up with an egg and shell together, the pellets rubbed between the fingers to the proper size. After the first three weeks, in a scarcity of ants’ eggs, Castang gives a few gentles, procured from a good liver tied up, the gentles, when ready, dropping into a pan or box of bran; to be given sparingly, and not considered as common food.
Food for grown pheasants, barley or wheat; generally the same as for other poultry. In a cold spring, hemp-seed, or other warming seeds, are comfortable, and will forward the breeding stock.
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_A New Species of Pheasant._—Amongst the numerous interesting natural productions recently brought from China by Mr. Reeves, it was with pleasure we observed a magnificent new species of pheasant, which will be a most interesting addition to the aviaries of Europe; and as it comes from the same part of the world as the gold and silver kind, there is scarcely a doubt but that, with a little care, it may be induced to breed in this country. It is about three times the size of the common pheasant, and has a tail from five to six feet long; it is of a pale bay colour, ornamented with black moons, and the head, wing, and under part of the body, black varied with white; the tail feathers are black and brown banded. Mr. Reeves brought with him from Canton two living specimens; but one of them unfortunately died in the Channel; the other is now in the gardens of the Zoological Society, where it will most probably recover its fine tail. A beautiful specimen, in nearly perfect plumage, brought by Mr. Reeves for General Hardwicke, has been presented by that gentleman to the collection of the British Museum. The tail feathers of this bird have been long known, two having been exhibited in the Museum for many years; but the bird which bore them was first described in General Hardwick’s Illustrations of Indian Zoology, from a drawing sent by Mr. Reeves, where it is called Reeves’s pheasant (_Phasianus Reevesii_).—_Daniel_—_Hawker_—_Moubray._
PHRASEOLOGY, _s._ Style, diction; a phrase-book; technical terms.
There was a peculiar kind of language invented by sportsmen of the middle ages, which it was necessary for them to be acquainted with, and some of the terms are still continued.