PHEASANT. 



the she ass. But this mule, having a horse for its sire, was much 

 more like a horse than our common mules, which spring from a 

 more humble sire, and partake more of the nature of the a** than 

 the mule here alluded to, and from this greater resemblance to the 

 horse, it was pointed out rather as a curiosity. From hence the 

 writer infers, that the white pheasants, if they were mule birds, 

 between the barn door cock and the hen pheasant, would, accord- 

 ing to this law of nature, take more of the shape, nature, and 

 properties of the male than of the female parent. But the reverse 

 is the case : white pheasants are perfect pheasants, in every re- 

 spect but colour, and whether male or female birds, have neither 

 the comb, the gills, nor the tail of the fowl ; have no appearance 

 of the fowl except in their white colour. Now the tail of the 

 pheasant is so remarkable in its shape, as not to be found in any 

 other class of British birds ; and notwithstanding the rule of 

 nature, that all animals should preserve more of the shape and 

 properties of the male than of the female parent, yet the white 

 pheasant, descended from the male fowl and female pheasant, 

 retains the tail of the latter perfect and unaltered, and without 

 any resemblance to that of the former. 



" From this identity of shape in the white pheasant and com- 

 mon pheasant it is submitted, that the former cannot be a mule 

 bird between the barn door cock and the hen pheasant. 



" And \dtli respect to the colour of the white pheasant, it will 

 l>e presently urged, from the instances of white varieties in other 

 birds, that this cannot be a satisfactory reason for its being a mule 

 bird, or half a fowl. 



" But it should not be forgotten, that in the ' Instructions to 

 Young Sportsmen/ the taste of the white pheasant is mentioned 

 as like that of the fowl. To this the writer of these observations 

 can say nothing, but that it may depend on the imagination. 

 Because it is known to be a white pheasant, and supposed to be 

 half a fowl, the flavour of the bird may be judged rather from 

 what is fancied, than from what is tasted. The skin of the white 

 pheasant, when picked, is probably different (the writer says, 

 probab/ij, since he cannot speak to the fact, for he has never seen 



