OCTOBER 271 



to mate with the other three species, the hybrids, in the 

 case of the Reeves pheasant, being infertile. 



Among pheasants, the cock bird has a monopoly of fine 

 feathers. Being a polygamous rascal, undertaking no 

 domestic duties, he has no occasion for protective colora- 

 tion ; whereas the hens are clad in sad raiment, differing 

 so little in the various species that it takes a practised 

 eye to distinguish between them. 



Let me add a word in favour of the golden and Amherst 

 pheasants, which, though useless for sporting purposes, 

 are easily naturalised, and add an exciting charm to our 

 woodlands by the extravagant glory of their plumage. 

 They are not pheasants at all, say ornithologists, who 

 arrange them in the separate genus of Thaumalea ; but 

 their habits and requirements are those of pheasants, and 

 they are as easily reared and established in the woods. 

 The gamekeeper will look askance when you propose to 

 turn them out, for it is an old but erroneous tradition 

 that they drive the common pheasant away. The silver 

 pheasant (Euplocamus) is indeed a truculent fighter ; not 

 so the golden and the Amherst. But you should make 

 your choice, no easy one, between these two gorgeous 

 fowls, for they mate indiscriminately, which results in a 

 hybrid race, propagating itself freely, to the manifest 

 detriment of the beauty of both species. 



LXVI 



Who has ever heard a good word spoken for wasps ? 

 The appearance of a single specimen at a 

 human breakfast-table is enough to upset the 

 nerves of the whole party. Nothing is heard but expres- 

 sions of hatred, and of terror, the parent of hatred. 



