264 Colour and Pattern-Transference in Pheasants 



Three ^2 "BAA" males (1") were dreadfully quarrelsome birds, 

 fought desperately and had always to be kept penned apart in or out of 

 the breeding season ; all three had Swinhoe plumage of somewhat 

 hybrid arrangement, the fourth " BA A " male was Swinhoe in every 

 character and mated with a female Swinhoe produced two F, " BAA A " 

 females and a male {" B") all Swinhoe in plumage, dimension and call ; 

 the ^3 " BAAA " male " B" had playful ways worthy of notice ; when 

 the pen was approached the bird lowered its head, made short quick 

 runs, then rapid turns back to the same spot with a nimble grace pretty 

 to witness, simulating a pretended fear and semi-antagonism towards 

 the observer. In sharp distinctiim to this bird was F., " BBA " male 

 Series 1, a very noisy bird, like all male Silvers he never ceased his 

 aggressive chatter till the observer moved on, whereas F, "BAAA" 

 male " B" although taking great notice of his visitor with the above 

 described antics, was generally a sili'ut bird ; sometimes, however, he 

 emitted a sound like a low growl accompanied by a vertical jerking 

 of the tail. The pure male Swinhoe and the two extracted Swinhoe 

 males. Series 1" of the pedigree F^ "BAAA" and Seiies V" of the 

 pedigree F^ exhibited exactly the same curious habit of lowering the 

 head, accompanied by a muttered growl and vertical jerkings of the 

 tail, so that these wary, watchful, queer ways and altered demeanour, 

 marking an interest in man, were a purely Swinhoe habit and were 

 correlated with the plumage : many records are found during September 

 noting the sideways skip, the lowered head, and the growl in extracted 

 and pure Swinhoe males. It was noted that the females of both parent 

 species were generally characterless as were also the extracted Silver 

 females. Series 1, and extracted Swinhoe females. Series 1" and 1""; 

 though when confined together in a pen without a male they have been 

 occasionally observed running after one another in a sort of play, none 

 had any really playful habits, or were either friendly or otherwise with 

 man ; all were dull and uninteresting, with the single exception of one 

 bird in Series l** of the pedigree, a female F^ inter se, whose ways will 

 be described in another paper. Notes are frequent on the shy habit of 

 the Swinhoe and on the bold manner of the Silver, whether of pure or 

 extracted race, and all tend to show that unlike the moult factor, which 

 seems to segregate independently, in most crosses habit and plumage 

 are correlated. 



