170 THE PHEASANT- MALAY FOWL. 



and relationships to all surrounding beings that are endued 

 with life. 



The Nycthemerus and the mule Pheasant have tails more or 

 less horizontal. The Hen of the Pheasant-Malay carries hers 

 in a" particular upright and hen-like manner; the Cock has 

 the curved and flowing feathers of the tail, and every other 

 mark of true Gallism. The Pheasant-Malay Hen has semi-oval 

 markings on the breast, and shining blue-black hackle on the 

 neck mixed with dark brown, which do bear some distant re- 

 semblance to the Plumage of a Cock Pheasant, and might give 

 rise to the false notion of her origin; but a glance at the Cock 

 bird shows how nearly he is related to the Game Fowl; a 

 closer inspection shows the affinity of both to the ordinary 

 Malays. 



"Pheasant Fowls," "The Pheasant Breed," are terms 

 which ought to be at once discarded, as being either erroneous 

 or unmeaning, or rather both. By these terms various people 

 intend to indicate Golden Hamburghs, Silver Hamburghs, Po- 

 landers, and even Bantams,* besides the subject of the present 

 section. An eminent London dealer being asked what breed 

 of Poultry he would supply, if the " Pheasant Breed" were 

 ordered, replied, that he did not know; for some gentlemen 

 so called one sort, and some another. Indeed, the name is 

 vernacularly applied to any thing that bears the most distant 

 resemblance to a Pheasant. It has first to be shown that there 

 is a Pheasant breed of Fowls ; every specimen so called, that I 

 have hitherto seen, being referable to some one of the varieties 

 mentioned in these pages. 



To pass slightly over such a popular error would be wrong, 

 because it involves the great question of the immutability of 

 species. The result, then, of our inquiry is this; that hybrids 



* In Moubray's work, 8th edition, a coloured engraving of Sea- 

 bright's Spangled is entitled, " Bantam, or Pheasant Fowls." 



