\C)2 \'0\\:\K\ niSKASKS AND 11 1 1! I K TKI'ATM I-NT. 



years aj^o. wriltcn by 1 laiiiillt)ii ( I'loc. Zool. Si>c., London, 1862, 

 p. 24) is of interest: "In the years 1858. 1859. and i860 this 

 peculiar alteraticMi of slnuture in llu- female or^jans of genera- 

 tion ill llir Pheasants was particularly prevalent in some parts 

 of England. I had the opportunity of examining many speci- 

 mens, and was able completely to confirm Mr. ^■arrel^s views 

 on this subject. Indeed, the majority of tlie birds were young 

 females, many of them being birds of the year, .some being in 

 their lirst moult. I found also that the plumage varied and 

 approached that of the male, not in accordance with the age of 

 the bird, but with the amount of disease of the generative or- 

 gans. The greater the destruction of the ovarium and oviduct, 

 the nearer the plumage assimilated lliat n\ the male." 



"For example, in birds with the hen-])hmiage jM-edominating, 

 the ovarium and oviduct exi.st as in llic fecundating hen. the 

 small ova lying in considerable numbers in the ovarium, the 

 ovarium and oviduct showing dark lead-coloured masses of dis- 

 ease." 



"In birds with the plumage of the male in a measure exceed- 

 ing that of the female, the ovarium is considerably diminished 

 in size, dark-coloured, and containing only a few l)lackened 

 ova; the oviduct is spotted with dark patches, and considerably 

 contracted." 



"And thirdly, in birds with the male plumage predominating 

 over that of the female, the ovarium is reduced to a small dark 

 amorphous mass, resembling the coagulated blood, the presence 

 of ova cannot l)e detected, and the oviduct is almost entirely ob- 

 literated at its junction with the ovarium. Thus it seems that 

 there are 3 distinct phases in this peculiar abnormal state of the 

 generative functions." 



"I have also noticed that, in most cases where the male plum- 

 age is in excess of the female, the tail-feathers are particularly 

 long, some l)eing as much as 19 inches in lengtli." 



"Although .Mr. Yarrell states that this condition of the female 

 generative organs is not confined to the PJiasiaiiidac, and that it 

 has occurred in the gold and silver phea.sants, partridges, pea- 

 fowls, common-fowl, common pigeon, king-fisher, and common 

 duck, and that other classes of animals are liable to an influence 

 similar in kind, particularly among insects and Crustacea, yet 

 this disorganization is rarely observed except among the Phasi- 

 anidac, and i)articularly when these birds are produced in a do- 



