SG@MMERRING’S PHEASANT. 105 
Dutch interpreter, whether these birds were ever hunted, I could obtain but evasive 
answers; but if, however, such is the case, the right is undoubtedly reserved to 
the princes and nobility. 
«Tt appears that both these kinds of pheasants inhabit similar localities, 
and are abundant over the southern and the middle parts of the island of Nipon, 
for even during my rambles in the vicinity of Yokuhama, in the Bay of 
Yeddo, I could hear their calls in the little thickets and woods scattered over 
the country.’ 
* For the following note on the bird now before us, and the preceding 
species, we are indebted to the kindness of Joseph Wilson, jun., M.D., of the 
United States Navy, who was attached as surgeon to the squadron of the 
expedition :— 
**QOur acquaintance with the pheasants of Japan began soon after our arrival 
at Simoda, or about the middle of April, 1854. A Japanese brought to the landing- 
place a young bird, which, with the dark tips on his downy covering, and his 
frequently repeated ‘ peet-peet,’ might have been mistaken for a young turkey but 
for his diminutive size. This interesting little fellow had been obtained by hatching 
an egg of a wild pheasant, obtained in the hills, under a domestic fowl. 
**A few days after this a male pheasant in full plumage was brought to 
the same place, dead but uninjured, and evidently but very recently killed. The 
golden brilliancy of this bird’s plumage is probably not exceeded by any object in 
nature, and is quite equal in lustre to the most brilliant markings of the humming- 
birds, or the most highly burnished metal. This splendid colouring covers the 
whole body of the bird, merely shaded with a little copper-red about the tips and 
margins of the feathers, so as to show the lance-head form of the feathers. This 
specimen was taken on board the flagship Independence and preserved. 
«The specimen of the other species that I saw was shot by Mr. Heine, who 
made a very beautiful painting of it. .The two birds are found in the same 
localities, and seem to be similar in habits. 
«<The Japanese system of agriculture, although very minute, and appro- 
priating all available land to some useful purpose, yet affords abundant shelter for 
the native fauna. Scarcely any land is tilled except such as can be watered, so 
that the tops of hills and large portions of mountainous and precipitous places are 
appropriated to the growth of timber, or left covered with the primitive forest. 
These wooded districts afford shelter for wild hogs, foxes, and raccoons (the skins 
of which were seen), as well as for the pheasants; and they all descend in turn to 
plunder the crops, or steal the chickens in the valleys. During the first part of our 
stay at Simoda, the cultivated fields afforded no food for the pheasants. The natives 
told us there were plenty in the hills; but no one was willing to undertake to show 
them, and several rambles through the bushes where these birds were supposed to 
P 
