on Variation in Gold and Silver Pheasants. 103


appearance of a true species, but, nevertheless, I believe, the two

great authorities quoted above are perfectly right in their

estimate of it.


As a matter of fact, there is now in the Zoological

Society's collection an intermediate specimen, in the form of

one of the individuals confined in the new Canal Bank Aviary.

In this the face and throat are blackish, as also are the scapulars,

but the tail-feathers are marked as in the normal type. More¬

over, when in mature plumage it was indistinguishable from two

birds acquired with it last February in the same garb, which have

become almost normal specimens. I say almost normal, for they

have dark scapulars, but to this point I shall recur later. What

I want to emphasize now is the fact that the immature plumage

of the dark-throated bird could hardly have been typical obscurus,

since the hens of that species, and presumably the young cocks,

were noticeably darker than those of the normal form, as is well

shown in Elliot’s plate of the variety. (Mon. Phasianidce).


The variation in the colour of the face and marking of the

tail would appear to be discontinuous, but with regard to the

scapulars, there appears to be a complete gradation from the

blackish ones of the obscurus form, with scarcely a trace of red,

to a full scarlet as light as that of the breast. The most usual tint

would appear to be intermediate, a crimson, which is that shown by

the fine bird recent^ in the end pen of the Eastern Pheasantry

at the Regent’s Park Gardens. An equally brilliant specimen in

the Canal Bank Aviary has, however, dark scapulars, in this case

deep steel-blue edged with red. A similar blue-and-red coloura¬

tion of the scapulars I found in a bird in the Battersea Park

covered aviary, where also there was a particularly fine bird with

the light scarlet scapulars ; indeed, it was the unusually bright

appearance of this bird, with his shoulders concolorous with the

breast, which led me to study this variation. And it is after

studying thirteen living specimens, six at Battersea, two at

Victoria Park, and five at the Zoological Gardens, that I came to

the conclusion that the variation in this respect is continuous, as

stated above.


Examination of the British Museum specimens confirmed

me in this, though I did not find any normal pictus so dark as



