102 PH ASIAN IDA 



for exhibition and comparison. These had been bred between 

 the Pheasant and Common Fowl, the Common Pheasant 

 and the Silver Pheasant, and the Common Pheasant with the 

 Gold Pheasant. The Kev. Eichard Lubbock, in his ' Fauna 

 of Norfolk,' mentions that in the beginning of January, 1845, 

 he was called into a bird-preserver's shop to look at a curious 

 hybrid obtained near Thetford, believed to be bred between 

 a Pheasant and a Red-legged Partridge ; but Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, who has examined this bird, says it is without 

 doubt a female Golden Pheasant. 



A history of our Pheasant would be incomplete without a 

 notice of that remarkable assumption of a plumage resem- 

 bling that of the male observed to take place in some of the 

 females, and which is well known to sportsmen and game- 

 keepers, by whom such birds are usually called Mule Phea- 

 sants. The name is correct, since some of our dictionaries 

 shew that the term mule is derived from a word which signifies 

 barren, and these hen Pheasants are incapable of producing 

 eggs, from derangement of the generative organs ; sometimes 

 owing to an original internal defect, sometimes from subse- 

 quent disease, and sometimes from old age. The illustration 

 given on the next page represents on a small scale a pre- 

 paration of part of the body of a healthy female Pheasant 

 in winter, in the left-hand figure ; and that of a diseased 

 female Pheasant on the right hand. The disorganization is 

 marked by the appearance of the dark lead colour pervading 

 the ovarium, situated on the middle line, and between the 

 two kidneys, which dark colour is seen in patches on various 

 parts of the oviduct below ; and I have never examined a 

 hen Pheasant assuming the plumage of the male without 

 finding more or less of the appearance here indicated. 



In some seasons, for instance those of 1881 and 1882, a 

 preponderance of cock-birds compared with hens has been 

 observed. Mr. Harvie-Brown states that such has been the 

 case with birds hatched in his covers from eggs obtained 

 from Elveden, and also in many covers in Peebles, Fife, 

 Dumbarton, and Perthshire. Similar accounts have been 

 received from Norfolk, Surrey, and Sussex. 



