124 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY. 
considerably more developed. ‘The iris, which is white in the latter species, is of a 
pale straw colour in the hybrids, as is the naked skin under the eye. The neck 
under the tippet, as well as the throat, is a resplendent green. The breast, which in 
the Amherst is white, is a brilliant scarlet orange, with a narrow transverse band 
of lighter yellow about an inch below the margin of the green feathers of the 
throat. The flanks are of the same colour as the breast. The back is yellow, 
running into the bright scarlet orange of the tail coverts and side sickle feathers. 
The wing coverts are of a magnificent dark steel blue. In all the characters 
mentioned the hybrids possess the most gorgeous hues of the two species conjoined. 
The tail, however, is an exception; that of the Amherst is certainly more beautiful 
than that of the Gold, which latter, however, appears almost unchanged in the 
cross-breeds, but of somewhat increased size. As, however, in the so-called species 
Thawnalea obscura, the tail of the Gold tends to vary towards the markings of that 
of the Amherst, and the upper part of the throat to assume a spangled character, 
there would be no difficulty in breeding this cross with the Amherst tail. 
The four birds are the offspring of two Gold hens mated with one male 
Amherst. They are remarkably tame, feeding out of the hand, and not offering to 
escape from the gaze of strangers. 
Mr. Elliott, in his monograph of the Phasianide, gives a life-sized coloured 
plate of this hybrid, and acknowledges that “in size and brilliancy of dress he 
eclipses” both the parent species, adding :—‘ Contrary to my intention of not figuring 
any hybrid pheasants, I have been induced to show this one, merely from its great 
beauty and the comparative rarity of at least one of its parents; but at the same 
time I cannot but believe that all those who breed pheasants, either for pleasure or 
profit, would best consult their own interests by keeping their birds as pure in blood 
as possible, allowing no foreign strain to intermingle, and resolutely setting their 
faces against even such a magnificent impostor as here offers himself for our 
admiration.” I quote this passage as illustrative of the beauty of the birds, although 
I differ entirely from the conclusions arrived at by the writer. There can be no 
possible doubt of the perfect fertility of the half-bred Amhersts. They have already 
been mated with the pure Amherst, and three-quarter pure-bred birds have resulted 
from the union. Examples of such exist in the Zoological Gardens, both of London 
and Antwerp; and these show very little trace of the Golden species. That the 
half-bred Gold and Amherst will be equally fertile when mated with one another, no 
one who has had any practical experience in cross-breeding the different species of 
Phasianide can have any doubt; and that an intermediate breed will be eventually 
perpetuated, which will possess the united beauties of both parent species, and be 
perfectly permanent in its characters, is a fact which I take the liberty of 
prophesying, without having the fear of the believers in the immutability and 
permanence of species before my eyes. 
