174 



ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



nexioii between the common pheasants and the domestic 

 fowls. 



This is one of the most magnificent as well as the 

 most common species seen in our aviaries, where it has 

 been long since introduced from the East: in a wild state 

 it is chiefly found in China. Although it is well known 

 to breed in this country, this is attended with much 

 difficulty, and requires great care and attention.* Ac- 

 cording to the opinion of M. Temminck, this difficulty 

 partially originates in the close confinement in which 

 these birds are usually kept, and in the very precautions 

 that are taken to preserve them from the effects of cold. 

 He advises that they should be gradually habituated, 

 like the common pheasant, to the large preserves in 

 which the latter are kept : the experiment, he assures us, 

 has already been made in Germany, where they have 

 been kept at perfect liberty in an open pheasantry, in 

 company with the common species, and suffered no 

 greater inconvenience than the latter from the change of 

 the seasons. This experiment is well Avorth trying in 

 this country ; and was projected, in 1831, by the Zoolo- 

 gical Society, but with what success we have not heard. 



The male bird, when in adult plumage, is nearly three 

 feet long, of which the tail alone generally occupies two 

 feet. The crown is adorned with an elegant pendent 

 crest of long, silky, bright yellow feathers ; while those 

 on the back of the neck are brilliant orange, marked 

 with transverse black bars: these feathers are also elong- 



* lit'iinett, Zool. Gardens, ii. 62. 



