A Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. concerning the Pheasant of Pensylvania, and the Otis Minor. By Mr. George Edwards

A Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. concerning the Pheasant of Pensylvania, and the OtisMinor. By Mr. George EdwardsAuthor(s): George EdwardsSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 48 (1753 - 1754), pp. 499-503Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/105177 .

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[ 499 ] probability of the elder's furvivnlg the younger, be added; the fum will be unity, as was a60ve ob fel ved.

_ 0

LXIII # Letter to Mr. Peter Collinfons F. R. S. concerning tbe Phea/fart of Pen fylvania, asd the Otis Minor. By Mr. George Edwards.

to Mr Peter Collinfon, F R. S.

College of Phyficians5 S I R, Jan. to, t7S4

Read Jan a7s ^ Ccording to your requeR, and by

17§+t your ailRance7 I have drawn up a

ltrief account of the fowl, called a pheaSant in Pen fylvania, in order to lay it, together vvith the birds, beire the Royal Society.

The coloured print, PlaZe XV. repreSents what is called the pheaSant in Penfylvania and other provinces of NQrth America, tho' it rather belorlgs to that genus of birds, which in England we call heathcocks, rIloor game, or grous. It is near as big as a pheafant) of a browniSh colour on the head and upper iide, and white on the breaR and belly; beautifully-variegated with lighter and darker colours on the back, and Epots of black on the under fideO Its legs are fea thered down to the feet, whicll will appear by the bird preferved dry, here preSent, as well as by the print in mirliature. As this bird iS5 in my JudgmentX wholly unknown to the curious of our country, I

R r r 2 lllall

[ 499 ] probability of the elder's furvivnlg the younger, be added; the fum will be unity, as was a60ve ob fel ved.

_ 0

LXIII # Letter to Mr. Peter Collinfons F. R. S. concerning tbe Phea/fart of Pen fylvania, asd the Otis Minor. By Mr. George Edwards.

to Mr Peter Collinfon, F R. S.

College of Phyficians5 S I R, Jan. to, t7S4

Read Jan a7s ^ Ccording to your requeR, and by

17§+t your ailRance7 I have drawn up a

ltrief account of the fowl, called a pheaSant in Pen fylvania, in order to lay it, together vvith the birds, beire the Royal Society.

The coloured print, PlaZe XV. repreSents what is called the pheaSant in Penfylvania and other provinces of NQrth America, tho' it rather belorlgs to that genus of birds, which in England we call heathcocks, rIloor game, or grous. It is near as big as a pheafant) of a browniSh colour on the head and upper iide, and white on the breaR and belly; beautifully-variegated with lighter and darker colours on the back, and Epots of black on the under fideO Its legs are fea thered down to the feet, whicll will appear by the bird preferved dry, here preSent, as well as by the print in mirliature. As this bird iS5 in my JudgmentX wholly unknown to the curious of our country, I

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[ soo ] thall, by foreign helps, give the beiE account of it that I can gather. It vvas fent to En0and, a year or twet ago, bywMr. John Bartram to yous ,ith a letter giving fome account of it) and other matters > out of ethich letter I have extradEed what fUllows: s Our pheafant sraS, I hiieve, wholly un-

known to CateibyX it being morc nGrthern tllan Ca- rolina They have been comnzon (in Penfvlvania),

' bllt now moR of them are dellroyed in the lower t iettlementsy tho' the back Indiatl inhabitants brillg ' them to nlarket. When living, they ered their ' talls liE turkey-cocks, and raii a ring of feathers

roulld tlzeir necks) and walk very [tately, making a ' noife a little Iike a turkey, wshen the hunter- muIt ' fire. They thump in a very remarkable manner} by clapping their wings agaid their fides, as }s fiup- pofed, Itanding on a fallen trec. They begin their

< Ilrokes at about two fecoMs of time diIlant from ' each other, and repeat them quicker and quicker,

until they found like thunder at a diRance, which lalis aboue a minute, then ceaSes for 6 or 8 minutes, and begins again. They may be heard near half a

4 mile, by which the hanters find them. They es- s ercife their thumping in a morning and cvening in X the fpring and fill of the year. Their fiood is ber- c ries and Seeds. Their fleth is whiteX and good. I ' believe they breed but once a year in the Epring, s and hatch I 2 or x4* at a fitting; and theSe keep to- ' gether till the foIlowing fpring. They cannot be s ma;de tame. Many have, to their diSaxppointment, s attempted it by raiflng them under hexls; but, as

' fioon as hatched, they efcaped into the woods, 'wllere they either provided for themfelves, or pe- riffied.' In



[ 501 ] In order to be farther informed of this bird, I

wrote to Mr. Brooke, furgeon of Maryland who was lately in London, to affil{t lne with what he knew of the nature of it, who obliged me with a letFer, wherein he fays, that the prislt I fent hinz (whicll was tlae fame wIth this here prefent) repre- Iented thesr pheafant jtlll as it appears when furprifed, and going to take wing. ; They breed in all parts of ' Maryland, except near the eafiern {hores. They t lay their eggs ill neRs made of dry leaves by the ' fide of a fallen tree, or at tlae rc)ot of a Ilanding

one: They lay firom 12 to I6 eggs1 and hatch in ' the fprlng; but how long they fit, I cannot tell. I 4 have found their neRs) when I was a boy, and have

endeavoured to take the old one, but never could: ' She would let me put my hand almoIt on her be- ' fore Ihe quitted her neIt; then Me would flutter 4 juIt before me for IOO yards) or more, to draw me

off from her neIl, which could not afterwards be ' eafily found. The young ones leave the neIt as foon < as hatclled, andX I believe, live at firft on ant-s and

worms: When they a:re a few days o1d, they hide themfelves amongi} the leaves, that it is hard to find them When they are grown up, they feed on the

' berries, fruits, and glain, of the courltry. Tho' f the pheafant hatches many young at a fiteng, and

often fits twice a yeat, the great number and va- ' riety af havvtks among us, fee-dIng on them, pre- ' vents their increafing- fa{t. The beating of the ' pheafant, as we term it, is a noile chiefly made in f the fpring by the cock birds. It may be diRinEtly

heard a mile in calm weather. They fwell their breaIts like a pouting pigeon, and beat- with their

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l: 502 3 ¢ w;ngs, which founds not unlike a drum. They

{horten each found in flroke, tilt tlley rutu into one c another undiItinguiffied.'

Lahontan3 in his voyage to North America, Vol 1* p. 67. Epeaking of the fiowls about the lakes of Ca- nada, I believe) mentions this fame pheafant as fol- lows:

; Their flapping nlakes a noife like a drum? all ' about, fox the fpace of a minute; then the noife s ceafes for half a quarter of an hour, after which it

begins again By this nuifee we were direded to the < place where the unfortunate moor-hens fat, and ¢ found them upon rottell mofl@ trees. By flapping ' one wing again{} tlle otllerX they mean to call their

mates; and the humming noiSe, that enfues therew upon, may be heard a quarter of a league oi This

' they do only in the months -of April, May, Sep- ¢ tember} and Odober; arld, which is very retnark_ < able) a moor-hen never flaps in this manner but upon ' one treeo It begins at brealr of day, and gives over s at g in the morning) beginning again an hour before ' fun-fet, and flaps its wings till night*' This is a11 the light I ciuld gather relating to the phea£ant of Nbrth Amerlca.

The coloured prirlty PlateXVI. reprefents the otis minor, anas campellris,, canne petiere, the field duckX which was taken in the well of England, and lacl before tlle Royal Society about three years ago: And as there happened to be no gentleman pl-efentf who knew the birdX Mr. Haukibee, by order cf the iS- clety, fent the porter with it to me, to defire I would coIntnunicate to the fociety what I knew of it. 1

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[ 5°3 ] according to the Society's requeIl, gave in what caw count of it I could colle& from ornithologiRs, having never feexl the bird till then; which account was fa- voured with a reading before the Society. I find figures cyf it in the follovving authors on an-imals; siz. Bellon, GeEner, Aldrovand, Willoughby, Johnfon, and others; but as their figures are fmall, and the later authors have only copied the more antient, and none of th-em are drawn with the correEtnefs one would wilh, none of them expreisng the lighters darker, and fpotted parts) which are r@markable, and add to the beauty of a draught; I have tiyed to make a more perfedc figure than has hstherto appeared in print of this birdz I have don-e it on a larger fcale than what has gone before it, which has given me the better opportunity of expreilng its different-Ihades and fpots; which are blended throughout xts fea-ther_ ing, which could not ha-ve been done on a Ema;lfWler *ale. The deScriptions of this bird, under the va- rious n-ames here given, wi-th little variation, may be found, with the figures, in t-he feveral authors above- mentioned. I-think the modern authors agree, thut th-is bird was unknown to the antients. I am,

S I R,

With grQt refped:t,

Your very hllmble Serarant,

George Edwards.

LXIV. X



Documents

A Letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F. R. S. concerning the Pheasant of Pensylvania, and the Otis Minor. By Mr. George Edwards