56 PROTECTIVE COLOUR 



For sheer extravagance of brilliant colour commend 

 me to the cock golden pheasant displaying his glories 

 on a sunny April morn, to the feigned indifference of 

 his dingy-coated spouse. It is as if the designer of 

 nature had been put on his mettle to show what he 

 could do to dazzle the beholder by setting a shining 

 gold cap over an orange and black ruff, and throwing 

 an ivy-green jacket upon a scarlet vest and shorts, 

 finishing up with a heavy chocolate tail marbled with 

 black. When the Eastern monarch tried to amaze the 

 sage by showing him all the glories of his palace, he 

 was disappointed that his visitor showed no surprise. 

 ' Sire,' said the philosopher, ' I have seen the plumage 

 of the pheasant ! ' After that, there was no room left 

 for wonder; but whether it was a common colchic 

 bird or a golden pheasant deponent sayeth not. 



[This paragraph shall stand, albeit since it was 

 written, I have been compelled to transfer the meed of 

 beauty from the golden to the Amherst pheasant, 

 which inhabits the sloping woods at Meikleour, Lord 

 Lansdowne's charming demesne on the Tay. The 

 Amherst cock relies not on violent contrast of strong 

 colours, but on exquisite delicacy of tone ; the ground 

 colour of his raiment being snowy white, marbled and 

 pencilled with jet, relieved from monotony by a single 

 flash of scarlet in his cap. It is a more refined scheme 

 of decoration than the other, and pity 'tis that one 

 cannot have both species in the same woods, for they 

 are so nearly akin as to mate promiscuously, producing 

 hybrids in which the merits of both are confused and 

 marred.] 



