THE JAPANESE PHEASANT. — 101 
At other moments again, when the sun broke forth for a short time, all stretched 
themselves in the golden rays, and rolling in the sand shook the morning dew from 
their fine plumage. It was a beautiful sight, and I looked upon it with exceeding 
pleasure; so much, indeed, that I could not find the heart to destroy this little scene 
of domestic happiness by a leaden shower from my fowling piece. Suddenly the 
birds showed signs of uneasiness, and I soon discovered the cause in a Japanese 
root-digger coming from the opposite direction. I therefore took up my gun, and 
standing on my feet, raised the birds also, and as they flew towards the next hill, 
I had the good fortune to bring down the cock with one barrel of my gun, and 
one of the hens with the other. 
“The Japanese, who came up after I had loaded my gun and secured my 
game, looked with some astonishment at the stranger, for I was certainly the first 
foreigner who had been in pursuit of game on the hunting grounds of Niphon. He 
evidently asked me several questions, which I was not, of course, able to understand, 
but from his signs, and the frequent repetition of the word “statzoo”’ (two), I inferred 
that he inquired whether I had fired twice in such quick succession with one gun. 
I nodded and explained to him as well as I could the nature of my double 
barrelled gun, and the use of percussion caps, which seemed to astonish and delight 
him very much. A pipe of tobacco which I offered was gladly accepted; and in 
answer to a question that he appeared to understand, he gave me the name of the 
pheasant as Ki-zhi. Later in the day more people came to the hills, some for the 
purpose of digging roots, others to look after their cattle, which appeared to be 
turned out to graze on the hills. The birds had taken to the bushes, where I could 
not follow them, and so obtained no more specimens on that occasion. 
“A few days after, Lieutenants Bent and Nicholson, and myself, made another 
shooting excursion to the hills, but although we saw many pheasants, but a single 
specimen was shot, and the birds appeared to be very shy. We observed several 
Japanese with matchlocks about the hills, firimg away at a great rate. As we 
did not see either of them with game, and as the game laws of Japan are very 
severe, so much so, indeed, that their observance has been made a special article 
of the. treaty with the United States, I concluded that the firimg was only for the 
purpose of driving away the pheasants to places where they would be more secure 
from the strangers.” 
These three species of pheasants—the Versicolor, Torquatus, and Colchicus— 
readily breed with each other, and the mixed progeny, from whatever parentage, 
are perfectly fertile. The-effect of this introduction of foreign blood in our common 
breed has been amazing, producing an increase of size and vigour, and beautiful 
variations in the plumage, dependent on the species whose blood predominates in 
the cross. 
Nothing can be more interesting than the production of these beautiful 
