36 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the Superintendent of the Zoological 
Gardens in London, writing of this species, says :—‘‘ Among 
the Phasianide some species are remarkable for their pug- 
nacious and fierce dispositions; not only the males, but 
frequently the females, destroy each other. The want of 
suffi ient space and means of escape among bushes, shrubs, or 
trees is no doubt the cause of many females being killed when 
kept in confinement ; and this serious misfortune is unhappily 
of no rare occurrence. After the cost and trouble in obtaining 
pairs of these beautiful birds, and when they have recovered 
from their long confinement on the voyage, their owner is 
desirous of reaping a reward by obtaining an abundant supply 
of eggs as the birds approach the breeding-season, alas! he 
finds that some disturbance has occurred, the place is filled 
with feathers, and the female bird, from which he expected so 
much, is found dead or dying, her head scalped, her eyes 
picked out, or some other equally serious injury inflicted. I . 
have found some species more inclined to this cruel practice 
than others, the worst, according to my experience, being P. 
sammerringtt.” 
Eggs.—Pale greenish-white ; rather long ovals ; shell smooth 
and fine. Average measurements, 1°8 by 1°35 inch. 
VAR. @  PHASIANUS SCINTILLANS. 
Phasianus (Graphophasianus) scintillans, Gould, Ann. Mag. 
N. H.. (3) xvii..p. 150° (1866)5 id) B. Asia, viv plas 
(1867). 
Phastanus semmerringit, var. scintillans, Elliot, Monogr. 
Phasian. ii. pl. xili. (1872); Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. 
Mus. xxii. p. 337 (1893). 
By many authors this form of the Scemmerring’s Pheasant 
is regarded as a distinct species ; but it can only be recognised 
as a well-marked variety, for it not only occurs in the same 
islands where P. swmmerringi is found, but every intermediate 
stage of plumage between the two forms may be seen. 
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