The Soemmerring Pheasant. 45 



will well understand this, so brilliant is the plumage. 

 The hen has the general colours of the male, but 

 less brilliant ; tail, short and round. 



A pair of these birds, belonging to a friend of 

 mine, are very tame. The cock fairly drives his 

 feeder out of the aviary, and then struts about as 

 if in defiance. This male has been also mated with 

 a common hen pheasant, but the eggs were not 

 fertile. Soemmerrings require no special treatment, 

 and I never knew more than one hen kept with a 

 cock. 



There is another variety of this species, called 

 P. scintillans, but I doubt if it is anything more than 

 a sport, and do not think you could breed them true 

 to colour. 



