I 98 RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 



known the white birds resume all their former brilliancy 

 of plumage, after continuing for years in the albino 

 state. There is another very beautiful variety which 

 of late years has become extremely common in Scot- 

 land, and has received the appellation of Bohemian 

 Pheasant. The ground shade of the plumage be- 

 comes of a rich green cream colour, but the head 

 retains its glossy tint, and the black tips and mark- 

 ings on the breast and belly, and back, appear even 

 more conspicuous than in the ordinary state. This 

 state may occur from a modification of the same 

 causes which influence the change in the white va- 

 rieties. 



The pheasant sometimes also crosses with the do- 

 mestic fowl. Temminck mentions this as requiring 

 great attention to accomplish ; but where poultry is 

 kept upon the borders of a wood abounding with phea- 

 sants, it occasionally happens, and would do so per- 

 haps more frequently, if favourable opportunities oc- 

 curred ; a specimen in our own possession, exhibit- 

 ing all the mixed characters, was procured in a wild 

 state. M. Temminck also records a solitary instance 

 of a mule between the female common pheasant and 

 male golden pheasant, which exhibited a curious 

 but splendid mixture; all his endeavours, how- 

 ever, to procure a second specimen were ineffectual. 

 The common pheasant breeds also freely with the 

 ringed bird, and the offspring is productive. This has 

 been considered by many as a proof that these two 

 birds were identical, but in the whole of this order, 



