COMMON PHEASANT, 327 



Campsey Ash, where the Pheasants are well fed with pota- 

 toes, buckwheat, and barley, a cock Pheasant has been 

 killed which weighed four pounds and a half ; and on one 

 occasion my friend Mr. Louis Jaquier, then of the Claren- 

 don, produced a brace of cock Pheasants which weighed 

 together above nine pounds. The lighter bird of the two 

 just turned the scale against four pounds and a half ; the 

 other bird took the scale down at once. The weights were 

 accurately ascertained in the presence of several friends to 

 decide a wager, of which I was myself the loser. 



One peculiarity of the Pheasant must not be passed over, 

 which is, its inclination to breed with other gallinaceous 

 birds, not of its own species. This tendency exists also in 

 a remarkable degree among the different species of Grouse, 

 as will be hereafter noticed, with examples. Edwards long 

 ago figured, plate 337, a bird which was considered to have 

 been produced between a Pheasant and a Turkey. Henry 

 Seymour, Esq., of Handford, Dorsetshire, discovered three 

 or four of these birds in the woods near his house, and 

 shot one in October, 1759, which he sent to Mr. Edwards, 

 who figured and described it, as quoted. I have twice 

 been shown birds that were said to be the produce of 

 the Pheasant and the Guinea Fowl, and the evidence to be 

 derived from the plumage was in favour of the statement. 

 Of birds produced between the Pheasant and the Black 

 Grouse, several have occurred ; figures and particulars will 

 be given under the head of Black Grouse. Birds produced 

 between the Pheasant and Common Fowl are of frequent 

 occurrence, and such a one is usually called a Pero. The 

 Zoological Society have possessed several, which were for 

 a time kept together, but showed no signs of breeding ; 

 they are considered, like other hybrids, to be unproductive 

 among themselves, all being half bred ; but when paired 

 with the true Pheasant or the Fowl, the case is different. 



