610 EEEVES' PHEASANT. 



It is rather curious that the Pheasant shouhl disphay so great a tendency to mate with 

 birds of other species. Hybrids between the I*heasant and common hen are by no means 

 uncommon, and the peculiar form and colour of tlie plumage, together with the wild and 

 suspicious mien are handed down through several generations. The grouse is also apt to 

 mate with the Pheasant, and even the turkey and the guinea fowl are mentioned among 

 the members of these curious alliances. 



As these pages are not intended for sporting purposes, the art and mystery of Pheasant 

 shootinrf will be left unnoticed. The ingenious mode employed by Mr. Waterton for 

 the deception of poachers, is however, too amusing to be omitted. Those nocturnal 

 marauders were accustomed to haunt tlie fir plantations at night, and by looking upwards 

 could easily see the Pheasants as they sat asleep across the branches, and bring them 

 down with the gun, or even a noose on a long rod. So, thinking that prevention was 

 better than prosecution, he first planted a number of thick holly clumps, dark as night in 

 the interior, and C|uite impervious to human beings unless cased in plate armour. The 

 Pheasants soon resorted to these fortresses, but their places were filled with a few hundred 

 rough wooden I*heasants, which were nailed upon the fir branches, and at night looked so 

 exactly like the birds that the most practised eye could not discover the difference. After 

 these precautions had been taken, the astute inventor w^as able to rest quietly at home and 

 chuckle to himself at the nocturnal reports in the direction of the fir-wood. 



The nest of the Pheasant is a very rude attempt at building, being merely a heap of 

 leaves and grasses collected together upon the ground, and with a very slight depression, 

 caused apparently qiiite as much by the weight of the eggs as by the art of the bird. 

 The eggs are numerous, generally about eleven or twelve, and their colour is an uniform 

 olive brown. Their surface is very smooth. When I was a boy I well remember finding 

 a Pheasant's nest in a copse, taking the whole clutch and blowing them on the spot with 

 perfect openness, being happily ignorant of the penalties attached to such a proceeding, 

 and not in the least acquainted with the risk until I exhibited my prize to some friends, 

 and saw their horrified looks. 



The adult male Pheasant is a truly beautiful bird. The head and neck are deep steely 

 blue, " shot " with greenish piuq^le and brown ; and the sparkling hazel eye is surrounded 

 with a patch of bare scarlet skin, speckled profusely with blue-black. Over the ears there 

 is a patch of brown. The upper part of the back is beautifully adorned with light golden 

 red feathers, each being tipped with deep black ; and the remainder of the back is of the 

 same golden red, but marked with brown and a lighter tint of yellow without any 

 admixture of red. The quill-feathers of the wing are brown of several shades, and the 

 long quills of the tail are oaken brown changing to purple on the edge of the outer web, 

 and barred with jetty black on the outer v/eb and brown on the inner. The breast and 

 front of the abdomen are golden red with purple reflections, and diversified by the black 

 edge of each feather ; the rest of the abdomen and under tail-coverts are blackish brown. 

 In total length the full-grown male Pheasant is about three feet. The female is much 

 more sober in her colours and less in size than her mate, her body being of a pale yellow- 

 brown, and her length only some two feet. 



The gorgeous bird which is now known by the name of Peeves' Pheasant, but 

 which has undergone so many changes of title, is a native of Surinagur and Northern 

 China. 



It is a truly remarkable bird, for although its body does not surpass the ordinary 

 Pheasant in size, the total length of a full-grown male will often exceed eight feet, owing 

 to the very great development of the two central tail-feathers, which alone will measure 

 six and seven feet in length, and are very wide at the base. This species has been 

 brought alive to England and placed in the Zoological Gardens, where it throve tolerably 

 well ; and was sufficiently hardy to warrant a hope that it might be acclimatized to this 

 country. Its habits in a wild state are little known, but those specimens which have 

 been kept in captivity behaved much like the ordinary Pheasant. Although so splendid 

 and highly coloured a bird, it inhabits very cold regions, the mountains of Surinagur 

 being covered with snow. In that country it is known by the appropriate na iie of Doom- 

 durour or Lono-tail. 



