THE PHEASANT-MALAY FOWL. 169 



with the juiciness of the Fowl, as to be greatly prized by con- 

 noisseurs in good eating ; and therefore attempts are often 

 made to propagate the breed by those who are careless of 

 trouble and expense. " Farming for Ladies, 



To prevent this trouble and expense being thrown away, it 

 should be clearly known that the Pheasant breed * of Poultry- 

 fanciers is no more a mule between the Hen and the Pheasant, 

 than the Cochin China or Ostrich Fowl is a half-bred Ostrich, 

 or than the Bustard breed of Turkeys sprang from a commix- 

 ture with the great Bustard. Dr. Latham has an Owl-pigeon 

 and a Turkey-pheasant on the same principle of nomenclature. 

 The really half-bred Pheasant, which is indeed obtainable by 

 trouble, expense, and, above all, by patience and perseverance, 

 is not unfrequent in museums and collections. Any offspring 

 of these mules is rare : so that no breed is originated j only a 

 set of isolated monsters. Mr. Yarrell describes and figures 

 several other mules between the Pheasant and one or two galli- 

 naceous birds nearly allied to it. Those between the common 

 Fowl and the Pheasant which I have seen, bore, in their out- 

 line, great resemblance to the genus Nycthemerus, the Golden 

 and Silver" Pheasants : thus supporting the position assigned 

 to those birds by Mr. Swainson, namely, between the Fowls and 

 the Pheasants. And the great and varied talents of that gentle- 

 man must claim respect from every student of Nature, even 

 though they may not be complete converts to his circular sys- 

 tem and quinary arrangement. But, in confirmation of his 

 views, it may be urged that existence is not a chain, a simple 

 series, as some have described it, but an infinite net-work, ex- 

 tending in all directions, developing itself, not superficially, but 

 cubically, like, the spherical undulations of light that flow from 

 every fixed star. Each animated being is a portion of this net- 

 work ; and from each, as from a centre, may be traced aflinities 



* See infra, bhe synonyms of the Hamburgh Fowls. 



15 



