REEVES'S PHEASANT. 201 







duces six to seven eggs. But natural or wild breeding is 

 rare here, owing to the foxes. 



"The Gold pheasant seems to prefer the ridges of car- 

 boniferous limestone. 



"The Reeves pheasant strays sporadically. By rearing 

 forty to fifty annually I can keep up the number. 



" The Gold pheasant is abundant here. Traces of an 

 Amhersi cock (long since dead) are to be seen in the white 

 tippet and red tinge of the crest feathers ; this latter sign 

 gradually wears out. The ' tippet' seems to be more 

 permanent. 



" Silver and Reeves pheasants have bred together. The 

 result is a certain amount of brown colour on the back and in 

 the tail feathers. 1 have little experience of this cross." 



On the Elvedon estate a hybrid Reeves is said to have 

 proved fertile, and Sir Digby Pigott on inquiry has received 

 the following letter from the head gamekeeper, W. Hill : 



" I had some four or five Reeves hybrids (hens) penned 

 with the common pheasant, P. colchicus, about three seasons 

 ago, and they were fertile and several young were reared. 



" I have also known of several second, and I may say third 

 crosses, but the curious fact is that whereas the first cross is 

 a magnificent bird of great weight and beauty, the second 

 cross is much smaller, and the third smaller still not so large 

 as a medium common pheasant hen." 



Lord Redesdale informs Sir D. Pigott that he has always 

 found the hybrid Reeves infertile, so that the fertility of this 

 cross must still be regarded as very uncertain. 



