130 PHASIANip^. 



the uncared-for tenants of the forest. About sixteen 

 pounds is probably the average weight of the male 

 wild bii'd when in good condition, and they have been 

 shot weighing nearly double as much; but they vary 

 greatly in this respect, according to the season, and 

 to the abundance or scarcity of food obtainable. In the 

 summer months they are poor and lean, and much in- 

 fested with vermin, but improve rapidly when the beech- 

 mast comes in, and are in their highest perfection late 

 in autumn. The flesh is darker in colour than in our 

 turkey, and more game-like in flavour. 



The length of the male bird is nearly four feet ; its 

 head and neck are covered with purplish-red excrescences 

 on a naked blue skin, thickly overspread with bristles, 

 and a tuft of horsetail-like hairs hangs from the breast 

 similar to that seen in the domestic bird, but larger and 

 longer. The game-looking head is smaller than that of 

 the latter, and the general hue of the plumage is a beau- 

 tiful golden copper, with purple and green reflections, 

 mottled and banded with a deep soft black. The lower 

 part of the back is an iridescent brown, and the tail 

 which is of a darker hue, has a broad black band at a 

 short distance from the extremity, with an outer border 

 of dark yellowish brown. 



The female, which is a much smaller bird than the 

 male, seldom weighing more than nine pounds, is also less 



