A Pheasants' Feast
A cursory examination of the food of some particularly plump pheasants proved the unexpected fact that they had been feeding almost exclusively on tomatoes and woody night- shade! The tomato, in spite of its tenderness to frost, is almost always found on ground where rubbish is dumped, and it usually fruits freely. For different reasons the woody nightshade, which is one of the multiplying wild plants, also flourishes in such places. Perhaps the pheasants, which have long been accustomed to devour the red nightshade berries, have so been induced to attack the equally red fruits of the tomato ; but, after all, both plants belong to the same family, that altogether surprising family which provides us both with deadly poisons and the most popular of foods. Good foods, indeed, often themselves contain powerful poisons. A striking example is Mandioca, the standard food of Northern Brazil. Only a rather elaborate system of preparation robs it of its vice and emphasises its virtues.
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