188 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



and present a grand and bewildering effect when they rise in 

 such, a company. Any attempt to walk up to them in brush 

 covert is utterly hopeless, for they are exceedingly vigilant 

 and go straight off like a dart, not more than six feet from 

 the ground, far out of reach/' 



Mr. J. Mayes, head-keeper to the late Maharajah Dhuleep 

 Sing, writing from Elvedon, in 1877, stated: "1 have bred 

 the Reeves's pheasant for the last five Or six years, rearing 

 them by hand, and have had pretty good luck with them the 

 last two years, having succeeded in rearing about sixty in the 

 two seasons ; but I find they are much healthier turned out 

 than when penned up. The soil here is dry and sandy, which 

 seems to suit them very well. Two years ago I penned 

 up fifty very fine young birds, about half -grown ; but they 

 swelled very much about the head, and went completely blind, 

 and about twenty of them died, but those that we have turned 

 out seem to be in very good health and condition. As regards 

 hybridizing, I know they will do so, as three years ago a hen 

 Eeeves escaped from the pens, bred with a common pheasant, 

 and brought up five very fine young birds, much larger than 

 the common pheasant, and of beautiful plumage." 



Many specimens of hybrid or cross-bred Eeeves have been 

 reared in confinement. That figured in the same plate with 

 the Bohemian pheasant was the offspring of a male Reeves 

 with a Bohemian hen; it partook, as may be noticed, the 

 characters of both species, the tail being of ■ intermediate 

 length, the white, cowl, cheek patch, and neck ring of the 

 Reeves being retained, but the splendid golden yellow of the 

 body being almost entirely wanting. Hybrids between a 

 Reeves's hen and a Scemmerring cock have been bred by Mr. 

 Jamrach. The male birds appeared precisely intermediate 

 between the two parents, having the strongly barred tail of 

 the Scemmerring and the perfectly marked head of the Reeves's 

 pheasant. They were exceedingly beautiful. 



Hybrids have also been produced between a male Reeves's 

 pheasant and female Cheer (P. wallichii), but they have 



