Incredibly
stupid birds that seem to go out of their way to
get killed and eaten. I think they're related to
chickens but are even
less intelligent -- if such a thing is possible. Driving through any
English countryside in the
summer you will be beset upon by
flocks of pheasants all competing with each other to
fling
themselves under the
wheels of your
car.
English Law has an oddity whereby if you succeed in running over one
of these game birds (and it's often hard not to succeed), it is
illegal for you to pick up the corpse and take it home to cook.
However the next person who comes across the dead bird of little brain
is perfectly entitled to claim the body for themselves. It's all to do
with ancient poaching laws, apparently.
In Roald Dahl's children's story
"Danny, Champion of the World" there is a full description
of a foolproof method of poaching pheasant.