Washington's Birds

American admirers of gold pheasants know that President George Washington may have been the first U.S. citizen to keep the birds. But he didn’t keep them for long. Washington’s seven golden pheasants arrived in November 1786, a gift from the Marquis de Lafayette. The first of these magnificent birds died only three months later, and Washington reported in a letter that “I am afraid the others will follow him but too soon, as they all appear to be drooping.”