THE COMMON PHEASANT. 167 



was then fontined with a common hen ])heasant, and there 

 were a few of the chicks pled. Lastly, a pied cock and a pied 

 hen were confined together, and invariably every one of the 

 chicks was pied. I have tried tlie experiment freqnently 

 with the same results." And a third states: — "J deny tliat 

 the cross between the white and common pheasant will 

 produce pied, when both are pure l)red. I have tried the 

 cross in confinement for years, and never produced one pied 

 bird from it ; and before the pied breed was introduced 

 into the preserves here, we had an abundance of white cocks 

 and white heus, and, believing at tliat time that the pied was 

 the result of a cross between the wliite and common pheasant, 

 I used t(j watch the nides of every white hen, and was 

 surprised that in no instance was there one pied cliick, though 

 some were white." 



'['he explanation of the difficulty of breeding pied Ijirds 

 from a. white and a coloured parent, and the ease with which 

 ring-necks are produced and perpetuated, is soon given. 

 Kmg-necks are derived more or less directly from the 

 -/*. torqnutus, a permanent race, that has a strong tendency to 

 reproduce its like ; but white and pied birds are merely 

 accidental variations, and not even a th(.)roughly established 

 breed, and thei-efore are not prepotent in propagating their 

 like, but have a strong tendency to throw back to the stock 

 from which tlu'y were derived. 



