on Variation in Gold and Silver Pheasants, 105


Society to mate with their male, and is now in the Eastern

Pheasantry. Bnt along with it came another and smaller bird,

with the nnderparts and flanks of a pencilled black and white

very similar to what is seen in the immature male of this species-

The bird is not a young male, for it has shown no signs of

changing its colour, and since then—recently in fact—I have

seen no less than three birds like this in the aviary at Victoria

Park ; they are the only hens of the species there, and appear of

the normal size. Of the two hens at Battersea Park—where,

however, it is not possible to get close up to the wire of the

Pheasantr}', whence close observation is difficult—one very nearly

approaches this pencilled type, and the other shows a decided

approximation to it, as far as I could make out.


I11 the British Museum I find a very perfect example of this

variety, which Mr. Ogilvie-Grant tells me he knows to be an

aged bird ; it has the pencilling of the under surface very clear

and distinct, and the tail very strongly pencilled. This is a

Hertfordshire specimen, but another marked “ China ” has an

even more boldly marked tail, with a breast inclining to that of the

normal bird, with the minute black stippling, found even in the

latter, more strongly marked. I may mention that three typical

birds from Kuatun vary much in this tail-pencilling, and another

normal one marked “ Amoy Aviary ” also has it very strong, so

that this point seems altogether variable.


But the type with pencilled underparts seems to represent

a fairly discontinuous variation, if variation it be. Mr. Ogilvie-

Grant regards it as a partial assumption of male plumage, and its

similarity to the livery of the immature male strongly confirms

this. But in this case it is remarkable that it should go no

further, and also that out of seven living examples examined as

above, at least five should display it ; the case needs more

investigation, and the fact that in the domestic fowl at least

three forms of female may be correlated with similar black¬

breasted red males must be borne in mind—these being the fawn¬

breasted “ Partridge ” lieu of the Jungle-fowl colour, the

“ wlieaten ” type, and the pencilled-breasted hen of the Partridge

Cochin, with various intermediates.


At all events, I think enough has been said to show that



