THE COMMON FHEA!<ANT. 10] 



It would be but a tedious and most unprofitable waste of 

 time to enter into tlio consideration of these numerous breeds 

 of pheasants which the species-mongers have raised to the 

 dignity of distinct species; suffice to sa,y they are all perfectly 

 fertile, Inter se, as are their progeny to any extent. It may 

 please closet naturalists to classify them, not knowing how 

 easily they may be bred, and to give them specific names, 

 after their friends, which has been done in several instances. 

 But the naming a variety as a new species because it has a 

 slight variation in its plumage has little interest for practical 

 men. 



In the following ]iages the more typical breeds will be 

 described, and their numerous varieties treated as allies. 



In commencing the description of the different pheasants 

 adapted to the covert, the common species (PJiasianus vol- 

 chidis) claims the hrst place, as it is more generally 

 distributed and better known than any of the more recent 

 introductions. Although not equalling some of them in size, 

 or goi'geousness of plumage, it is by many sportsmen pre- 

 ferred in consequence of its rapid flight and active h;ibits. 

 It is, however, only in the remote districts of the country 

 that it is now to be found in a. state of jnirity, as the inlrij- 

 duction of the Chinese and Ja])anese races has given rise to 

 so many cross-bred varieties that in many districts a pui'e- 

 brc'd p. colchicii.s is a rarity. 



Lord Lilford, in " The Birds of N(.)rthamptonsliire," writing 

 of the common pheasant, says : — " Although it is now difficult 

 to find pure-bred specimens of this species, on account of 

 the frequent crossings with the Chinese King-necked Pheasant 

 (P. tiirquafii.'i) and other species, we do occasionally meet with 

 birds, especially iu the large woodlands of the northern 

 division of Northamptonshire, which, by their small size, 

 the absence of any trace of the white collar, which is s(j 

 conspicuous in the Chinese bird, and the intense blackness 

 of tlie plumage of the lower belly, present the rharactei'i>tirs 

 of the true unadulterated species.'' 



M 



