PHASIANUS.] AVES RASORES. 167 



Var, y. Hybrid Pheasant. (Male.) Head, neck, and breast, deep brownish 

 black, with a slight gloss of bottle-green ; the rest of the plumage above and below 

 the body, scapulars and wing-coverts, deep red brown, the feathers edged with 

 glossy black, and many of them streaked with yellow down the shafts : tail shorter 

 than in the common Pheasant, compressed, and slightly arched, of a deep brown, 

 approaching to black, variegated with specks and transverse undulating lines of 

 ochre-yellow. (Female.) Head, neck, and breast, dull brown without the gloss 

 of green ; a greater portion of the upper plumage reddish or yellowish brown ; 

 many of the feathers without the black border : tail brown, barred with reddish 

 yellow more cuneated than in the male bird. This variety, which is occasionally 

 met with, is an hybrid production between the Common Pheasant and the Domestic 

 Fowl. The plumage is of course subject to considerable variation. The above 

 descriptions were taken from a pair in the museum of the Cambridge Philosophical 

 Society. Is sometimes called a Pero. The female has been known to breed again 

 with the male Game-Fowl. 



Supposed to have been brought originally from the banks of the Phasis, a river 

 of ancient Colchis. Common at present throughout the greater part of Asia and 

 Europe. Period of its first introduction into Britain uncertain. As a naturalized 

 species, is generally distributed throughout England, but considered rare in Scot- 

 land. Frequents woods. Is polygamous, like the Domestic Cock. Commences 

 laying in April, and hatches towards the end of May. Number of eggs from ten to 

 fourteen, deposited on the ground, amongst long grass, or in cornfields ; sometimes 

 in thick copses. Barren hens, which have partially assumed the spurs and plumage 

 of the cock, are not unfrequently met with, and are termed by sportsmen Mule- 

 Birds. 



* 146. P. torquatus, Temm. (Ring-necked Pheasant.) Head and 

 neck bluish green, the latter encircled by a white collar ; a line of white 

 over each eye ; lower part of the neck and breast copper-red, the feathers 

 deeply divided by a black line. 



P. torquatus, Temm. Pig. et Gall. torn. n. p. 326. and torn. in. p. 670. Ring 

 Pheasant, Leach, Zool. Misc. vol. n. p. 14. pi. 66. Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol.xi. 

 p. 228. 



DIMENS. Rather less than those of the last species. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) Head and upper part of the neck deep green, with a tinge 

 of violet blue ; below this colour, a collar of pure white, broadest on the sides of the 

 neck, narrow behind, entirely interrupted in front: over each eye a narrow white 

 line, not always present : plumage on the upper part of the back, between the 

 shoulders, of a paler colour than in the P. Colchicus, approaching to orange-yellow, 

 the feathers of a more pointed form, and deeply divided by a blackish blue line ; 

 all the lower portion of the back varied with different shades of green, passing off at 

 the sides into bluish ash ; saddle-hackle feathers pale rust-colour ; upper tail-coverts 

 the same, passing into greenish yellow ; feathers on the fore part of the neck below 

 the white collar, and those on the breast, of a fine bright copper-red, with a much 

 narrower edging of black than in the last species, but deeply indented at the tip 

 by a lanceolate black line : wings and tail paler than in the Common Pheasant. 

 (Female.) General colour similar to that of the female of C. Colchicus; breast 

 not so much spotted ; transverse bars on the tail more distinctly marked. (Egg.) 

 Bluish green, with small spots of a darker tint. TEMM. 



A native of China, from whence it has been introduced into England, and 

 naturalized in many parts of the country. In consequence, however, of its breed- 

 ing freely with the Common Pheasant*, it has become so intermixed with that 

 species, as very rarely to occur at present exhibiting the pure plumage which 

 characterizes it in its wild state. The above description of the cock bird was 

 taken from a fine specimen in the possession of Mr Leadbeater. 



* (14.) Bohemian Pheasant. 



This name is employed in many parts of England to distinguish a species 

 or variety of the Pheasant, which is met with in several preserves, but 

 which does not appear to have received the notice of ornithologists. The 



* This docs not happen in its native country, where both species are equally plentiful, but, 

 according to Temminck, keep perfectly separate. 



