[Case 10,] 
| Cases 
2: 
24 BIRD GALLERY. 
fernale. A second moult takes place in September, when the short 
feathers of the neck are cast, and again replaced by hackles, the 
wing- and long tail-feathers having by this time been renewed. This 
temporary plumage is doubtless protective, and parallel cases may be 
seen in the Black Grouse and in many of the Dueks. 
It is from the Red Jungle-Fow] (G. gallus) (89) that all the domestic 
breeds of poultry are said to have been originally derived, and remark- 
able examples of these varieties may be seen in the Central Hall of the 
Museum. One of the most singular comes from Japan, and has extra- 
ordinarily elongate tail-coverts, said in some cases to attain a length of 
more than 12 feet. It is well known that the descendants of domestic 
fowls which have been allowed to escape and run wild in some of the 
islands of the Malay Archipelago soon revert to the wild type, and after 
a few generations become indistingwishable from the Red Jungle- 
Fowl of North India. In Ceylon a different species (G. lafayetti) (90) 
is found, the breast-feathers of the male being orange-red, while in the 
female they are white margined with black. 
The Golden Pheasant (91) and Lady Amherst’s Pheasant (92), the 
only representatives of the genus Chrysolophus, are natives of the 
mountains of Western China and Eastern Tibet. The splendid plumage 
of the males is not surpassed by that of any other bird of the Pheasant 
tribe ; but the beautiful white cape and underparts and quieter colouring 
of the Lady Amherst are, perhaps, more attractive than the more gaudy 
plumage of the Golden Pheasant. 
The true Pheasants (Phasianus and Calophasis) are, for many reasons, 
the most important as well as the most beautiful of all the Game-Birds. 
As already remarked, they are peculiar among the Phasianine in having 
the first flight-feather considerably lonyer than the tenth. The most 
familiar examples of the former genus are the Common Pheasant 
(Phasianus colchicus) (95) and the Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant 
(P. torquatus) (96). Both of these have been introduced into the greater 
part of Europe and Great Britain. It is not exactly known when the 
former, which is found wild in South-eastern Europe and Asia Minor, was 
first brought to England, but it is mentioned in the bills-of-fare of the 
Saxon kings. ‘The Chinese species, imported at a much later date, has 
interbred so freely with the Common or “ Old English ” Pheasant, that 
pure-bred birds of either species are now rarely met with in this country. 
About eighteen different species of Phasianus are found in Asia, and 
of these the majority resemble the Common Pheasant type in the 
general colour of their plumage, and a number are shewn in the Case. 
The Japanese Pheasant (P. versicolor) (97) and Scemmerring’s 
Pheasant (P. semmerringi) (102), found in the same islands, are 
somewhat different types, while Reeves’ Pheasant (P. reevesi) (104), from 
