THE JAPANESE PHEASANT. 181 



Japan. All naturalists, however, are not of Mr. Gould's 

 opinion. The late Mr. Blyth informed me that P. versicolor 

 and P. torquatus kept themselves distinct in two neighbouring 

 copses at Lord Craven's, not intermixing, although at a 

 comparatively short distance from each other, and that he 

 believed, although these races will cross when in confinement, 

 that in the open country the birds of each would select their 

 proper mates and produce pure bred offspring, an opinion 

 which I regard as exceedingly doubtful. 



The cross between the Japanese and common pheasant is 

 a bird of brilliant plumage, easy to rear, of greater size than 

 the average of English birds, and the flesh is very tender and 

 well flavoured. In Norfolk this very beautiful cross was 

 introduced by Mr. J. H. G-urney, who bred most successfully, 

 both at Easton and Northrepps, from the birds he obtained at 

 the Knowsley sale and the common pheasant (though chiefly 

 with the ring-necked cross), and produced magnificent 

 specimens; and from the eggs being greatly sought after by 

 other game preservers in his district, the race soon spread 

 throughout the county. " From personal observation and 

 inquiry, however," writes Mr. Stevenson, " during the last 

 two or three years, it appears, evidences of this cross, even in 

 the coverts where these, hybrids were most plentiful, are now 

 scarcely perceptible; the strong characteristics of the Chinese 

 bird apparently absorbing all the less marked though darker 

 tints of the Japanese. One of these birds, killed in 1853, 

 weighed upwards of four and a half pounds, and many 

 examples, which were stuffed for the beauty of their 

 plumage, will be found in the collections of our country 

 gentlemen." 



The absorption of the Japanese in the more common race 

 is not surprising when the small interfusion of new blood is 

 taken into consideration, but with the fresh introduction of 

 new blood, and the care in the preservation of the cross-bred 

 birds, there can be no doubt a permanent breed would 

 result, bearing the same relation to the pure bred Japanese 



