THE SILVEE. PHEASANT. i^;]^ 



The up})er part of the body is white, pencilleil witli tlie most 

 delicate tracery of bhick. The wlmle of the luuh-r parts are 

 hluish-bhick, the logs and feet red, the spurs well developed 

 and usually vei-y sharp. The f.'Tnale is smaller than the male ; 

 her general colour is brown, mottled with a darkei- tint ; the 

 crest and tail are inueh less ample thau those nf the cock ; the 

 outer tail feathers are light, marked with black on the outer 

 webs. The female m conhnement usually lays from eight to 

 fourteen eggs, and the young are most easily reared under a 

 common fowl. 



The genus Enphicamns, to which the Silver Pheasant 

 belongs, includes several species. They are distinguished 

 from the true jdieasatits by the crt'st, and by the more fowl- 

 like form of the tail. The males (and S(.)metiiii('s cN-eu the 

 females) are strongly anil sharph' spurred. The common 

 species, the kaleege or kali] of India, breed very Ireuh', even 

 in confinement, but are not a,d;iptcd for turning into the 

 covert, as they rise with difficulty, and their flesh is not eipial 

 for culinary purposes to that of the ordinary ])heasant. A 

 corres]:)oudent writes : " 1 have ))een shofiting lately in 

 ]jreserves where, amongst other game, I had tin' pleasure of 

 seeing the kaleeg'o on the wing. The birds liad been Ijred 

 under hens fi-om eggs taken from old birds in a mew, treated 

 in the same manner as jjheasants, and were at this time — the 

 last week in December — practically as wild as the plieasauts 

 in the same coverts. A more uns|)(jrting-looking l)ird iia the 

 wing' I never met with, or a more unsatisfactory one to knock 

 down. Its flight is low, never rising more than eight or ten 

 feet from the ground, and therefore in aline with everybody's 

 head, consequently a most dangerous bird in a- Juilfiic. Its 

 flight is more like that of a. coot or moorhen than any Ihrd I 

 know; the slow, noiseless flight, and the dark ])lumage, 

 making it very like the former bird. It runs much before 

 j.jj^jijo- — is very savage, driving away the other game Inrds, and 

 is the most unsatisfactory game bird I ever saw. My friend 

 with whom I was shooting is therefore killing them down." 



