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.
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.