182 PHEASANT. 



to run about with her, and when half grown begin to roost 

 on the same tree. It would appear that two hens will 

 sometimes lay in one and the same nest, and also that that 

 of the Partridge will occasionally be made use of, even if it 

 already contain eggs, the Pheasant expelling their proper 

 owner, and hatching them with her own, and bringing up 

 the young. The eggs are subject to considerable malformation. 

 Mr. Hewitson mentions one sent to him by the Hon. Mrs. 

 Liddel, which was of a cylindrical shape. 



Male; weight, very variable from two pounds and a half 

 to three pounds, and even, in some instances, over four 

 pounds; length, two feet ten inches to two feet eleven. 

 Bill, whitish or pale yellowish, or pale greenish horn-colour, 

 the base rather darker. The eye is surrounded by a bare 

 skin of a bright scarlet colour, minutely speckled with bluish 

 black: in parts it approaches deep red, and in some seasons, 

 crimson. Iris, pale yellowish orange, with a tinge of brown, 

 the eyelids flesh-coloured: over the ear is a small tuft of 

 dark golden-green feathers, set out in the spring. Head on 

 the crown, deep brownish green, with yellowish marginal 

 edgings, the feathers rather elongated and silky; neck behind, 

 deep green, and on the sides and in front, greenish blue 

 . and purple blue, alternately reflecting burnished shades of 

 green, purple, and brown, in different lights. Throat and 

 breast above, dark golden red, each feather margined with 

 glossy black and reflecting tints of gold and purple; lower 

 down, brownish black glossed with green, the margins of the 

 feathers being of the latter colour, and in young birds 

 tinged with reddish. Back, on the upper part dark orange 

 red, within which is a yellowish white band, the feathers 

 margined with velvet black, and with a central oblong spot 

 of the same; lower down dark orange red, the centre of each 

 feather dark, with an outer band of pale yellow, with spots 

 of light blue and purple, then light brownish red, the feathers 

 elongated, with loose filaments. 



i Th,e wings, rounded in form, and of twenty-four quills, 

 expand to the width of two feet eight inches; the third 

 and fourth quills are the longest, the first equal to the 

 seventh: underneath, the wings are yellowish green. Greater 

 and lesser wing coverts, red of two shades, the inner 

 dark, the outer yellowish grey, variegated with dusky and 

 whitish; primaries, dull greyish brown, varied with pale 

 greyish yellow; secondaries, broad, rounded, and a little 



