GIO REEVES' PHEASANT. 



It is rather curious that the I'heasaut shouUl display so great a tendency to mate with 

 hirds of otlier species. Hybrids between the I'heasant and common hen are by no means 

 uncommon, and the ])ecidiar form and cohiur of the plumage, together with the wild and 

 suspicious mien are handed down through several generations. The grouse is also apt to 

 mate with the I'heasaut, ami e\'en the turkey and the guinea fowl arc mentioned among 

 the members of these curious alliances. 



As these pages are not intended for sporting purposes, the art and mystery of Pheasant 

 shooting will be left unnoticed. The ingenious mode employed by ]\Ir. Waterton for 

 the decejjtion of poachers, is however, too amusing to be omitted. Those nocturnal 

 marauders were accustomed to haimt the fir plantations at night, and by looking upwards 

 could easily see tlie riieasants as they sat asleep across the branches, and bring them 

 down with the gun, or even a noose on a long rod. So, thinking that prevention was 

 better than prosecution, he first planted a number of thick holly clumps, dark as night in 

 the interior, and quite impervious to human beings unless cased in plate armour. The 

 Pheasants soon resorted to these fortresses, but their places were filled with a few hundred 

 rough wooden Pheasants, which were nailed upon the fir branches, and at night looked so 

 exactly like the birds that the most practised eye could not discover the difference. After 

 these precautions had been taken, the astute inventor was able to rest quietly at home and 

 chuckle to himself at the nocturnal reports in the direction of the fir-wood. 



The nest of the Pheasant is a very rude attempt at building, being merely a heap of 

 leaves and gTasses c<Dllected together upon the ground, and with a very slight depression, 

 caused apparently quite, as much by the weight of the eggs as by the art of the bird. 

 The eggs are numerous, generally about eleven or twelve, and their colour is an uniform 

 olive brown. Their surfiice is very smooth. When I was a boy I well remember finding 

 a Pheasant's nest in a copse, taking the whole clutch and blowing them on the spot with 

 perfect openness, being happily ignorant of the penalties attached to such a proceeding, 

 and not in the least acquainted with the risk untQ 1 exliibited my prize to some friends, 

 and saw their horrified looks. 



The adult male Pheasant is a truly beautiful bird. Tlie head and neck are deep steely 

 blue, " shot " with greenish purple and brown ; and the sparkling hazel eye is surrounded 

 with a patch of bare scarlet skin, speckled profusely with lilue-ljlack. Over the ears there 

 is a patch of brown. The upper part of the back is beautifully adorned with light golden 

 red feathers, each being tijiped with deep black ; and the remainder of the back is of the 

 same golden red, but marked with brown and a lighter tint of yellow without any 

 admixture of red. The quill-feathers of the wing are brown of several shades, and the 

 long quills of the tail are oaken brown changing to jmrple on the edge of the outer web, 

 and barred with jetty black on the outer web and lu-own on the inner. The breast and 

 front of the abdomen are golden red with purple reflections, and diversified by the black 

 edge of each feather ; the rest of the abdomen and under tail-coverts are lilackish brown. 

 In total length the full-grown male Pheasant is about three feet. The female is much 

 more sober in her colours and less in size than her mate, her body being of a pale yellow- 

 brown, and her length only some two feet. 



The gorgeous bird which is now known by the name of PiEEVEs' Pheasant, but 

 which has undergone so many changes of title, is a native of Surinagur and Nw-theru 

 China^ 



It is a traly remarkable bird, for although its Ijody does not surpass the ordinary 

 Pheasant in size, the total length of a full-grown male will often exceed eight feet, owing 

 to the veiy great development of the two central tail-feathers, which alone will measure 

 six and seven feet in length, and are very wide at the base. This species has been 

 brought alive to England and ])laced in the Zoological Gardens, where it throve tolerably 

 well ; and was sufficiently hardy to warrant a hope that it might be acclimatized to this 

 country. Its habits in a wild state are little known, but those specimens wiiich have 

 been kept in captivity b(>haved much like the ordinary Pheasant. Although so spleiulid 

 and highly coloured a bird, it inhabits very cold regions, the mountaius of Surinagur 

 being covered with snow. In that country it is known by the appropriate na iie of Doom- 

 durour or Long-tail. 



