THE CHINESE PHEASANT. 95 
length not exceeding 2ft. 5in., which is about Gin. short of that of the common 
bird; its eggs, which are of a pale olive stone colour, are smaller, being about 
13in. long by liin. in breadth. The pure Chinese is a bird of bold flight, 
rising through the covert with great quickness, and then pursuing a swift, straight 
course. It is unquestionably a most ornamental addition to our game birds, being 
valuable not only for the beauty of its plumage, but also for the delicacy of its 
flesh. The breed is, however, kept in a state of absolute purity with some difficulty, 
as the males are apt to wander to “fresh fields and pastures new.” Hence crosses 
between it and the common species are very prevalent; these constitute what 
are usually called the ring-necked pheasants. These cross-bred birds are perfectly 
fertile, not only with either pure race, but also inter se. They are, however, 
variable in plumage, the amount of white in the neck varying from four or five 
feathers to a nearly complete circle, and the feathers on the flanks being intermediate 
between the beautiful spotted buff of the pure Chinese and the dark colour of the 
common bird. These ring-necks are now common in most parts of the country 
where pheasants are preserved. The good points of the Chinese are largely shared 
by their half-bred progeny; hence the cross between the common and the Chinese 
is a valuable introduction to our preserves, retaining as it does to so great a degree 
the beauty and early fertility of the pure Chinese race, to which it adds great 
hardihood and larger size, but the birds are generally regarded as more apt to 
stray, and some gourmets maintain they are not quite so good a bird on the table 
as the pure-bred P. colchicus. 
The extent to which the interbreeding of the two species has taken place 
is well shown in the following interesting account taken from Mr. Stevenson’s 
« Birds of Norfolk ”’:—‘ In its semi-domesticated state, like our pigeons and 
poultry, the common pheasant crosses readily with its kindred species, and to so” 
eveat an extent has this been carried in Norfolk that, except in the wholly 
unpreserved districts, it is difficult at the present time to find a perfect specimen of 
the old English type (P. colchicus) without some traces, however slight, of the 
ring-neck, and other marked features of the Chinese pheasant (P. forquatus), and in 
many localities of the Japanese (P. versicolor). In looking over a large number of 
pheasants from different coverts, as I have frequently done of late years in our 
fish market, I have noticed every shade of difference from the nearly pure-bred 
ring-neck, with its buff-coloured flanks and rich tints of lavender, and green on the 
wing and tail-coverts, to the common pheasant in its brilliant but less varied 
plumage, with but one feather in its glossy neck just tipped with a speck of white. 
Some birds of the first cross are scarcely distinguishable from the true P. torquatus, 
and are most gorgeous objects when flushed in the sunlight on open ground; but 
as the ‘strain’ gradually dies out, the green and lavender tints on the back begin 
to fade, and the rich orange flanks are toned down by degrees; though still the 
