198 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



pugnacious and fierce dispositions ; not only the males^ but fre- 

 quently tlie females destroy eacli other. The want of sufficient 

 space and means of escape among bushes, shrubs, and trees is 

 no doubt the cause of many females being killed when kept in 

 confinement; and this serious misfortune is unhappilyof norare 

 occurrence. After the cost and trouble of obtaining pairs of 

 these beautiful birds, and they have recovered from their long 

 confinement on the voyage, their owner is desirous of reaping 

 a reward by obtaining an abundant supply of eggs as the birds 

 approach the breeding season, when, alas ! he finds that some 

 disturbance has occurred, the place is filled with feathers? 

 and the female bird, from which he expected so much, is 

 found dead or dying, her head scalped, her eyes picked out, 

 or* some other serious injury inflicted." 



The best account of the habits of this magnificent bird is 

 in Commodore Perry^s "Japan Expedition." Commodore 

 Perry writes : 



"This is undoubtedly the most beautiful of all the true 

 pheasants, and will compare in richness and brilliancy of 

 colour with almost any other species of bird. In the adult 

 male the neck and back are of a deep golden red, with a 

 metallic lustre of great beauty, but the female is exceedingly 

 plain and unpretending. 



" Like the P. versicolor, the present is only known as a bird 

 of Japan; and but a few years have elapsed since it was first 

 introduced to the attention of naturalists by the celebrated 

 Professor Temminck, well known as the most distinguished of 

 European ornithologists. It appears to inhabit the same 

 districts of country as the Versicolor, and to subsist on much 

 the same description of food ; but we regret to say that the 

 gentlemen of the expedition had no opportunity for observing 

 this species to such an extent as to enable us to make any 

 important contribution to its history. 



"Nothing having previously been published in relation 

 to this beautiful pheasant, we have exerted ourselves to 

 obtain all available information, and have great pleasure 



