THE COMMON PHEASANT. 91 



brown; under the tail variegated with reddish. The lower surface of the wing is 

 yeUowish-grey. 



" Length to end of tail 34 inches ; extent of wings 32 ; wing from flexure 10 ; tail 

 18i ; biU along the back 1^, along the edge of upper mandible 1t^ ; tarsus 3^^ ; first 

 toe 1^, its claw 1^; second toe 1^, its claw ^; third toe 2J, its claw i^; fourth toe 

 IW, its claw 4^ twelfths. 



"Of three other individuals, the length 34, 35, 36 inches. 



" Female. — The female is similar in form to the male, but with the tail much 

 shorter. The biU and feet require no particular description. The anterior scutella of 

 the tarsus are about seventeen in each row ; the first toe has five, the second fifteen, 

 the third twenty-two, the fourth eighteen. As in the male, there is a bare space 

 under the eye, but scarcely papillar, and more feathered. The feathers of the upper 

 part of the head are somewhat elongated; those of the rest of the head short; 

 of the neck and body oblong and rounded; of the rump not elongated as in the 

 male. 



" The general colour of the upper parts is greyish-yellow, variegated with black 

 and yellowish-brown ; the top of the head and the hind-neck tinged with red. The 

 wing-coverts are lighter; the quiUs pale greyish-brown, mottled with greyish-yellow, 

 as in the male. The tail is yeUowish-grey, minutely mottled with black, and having 

 in place of transverse bars, oblique irregular spots of black, centred with a pale 

 yellow line. The lower parts are lighter and less mottled, the throat whitish, and 

 without spots. The biU is horn-colour, tinged with green; the tarsi wood-brown, 

 the toes darker, the claws of the same tint. 



" Length 26 inches ; extent of wings 30 ; wing from flexure 9^ ; tail 11^ ; biU 

 along the back 1:|- ; tarsus 2^ ; first toe ^, its claw y2 '> second toe 1^^, its claw ^ ; 

 third toe 1^, its claw t^; fourth toe 1^, its claw ys- 



Several well marked and perfectly permanent varieties of this species are 

 not uncommon. One of the best known is the so-called Bohemian pheasant, in 

 which the entire plumage is much less glossy, the general ground colour being of a 

 creamy tint ; the head, neck, and spanglings on the breast and tail showing the 

 dark markings in varying degrees of intensity in different specimens. The appearance 

 of this variety is admirably given in the engraving, which renders any more 

 detailed description unnecessary. The Bohemian pheasant is, as it were, accidentally 

 produced from the common form in different localities, and the variation, like many 

 others, is hereditary, and may be therefore propagated by careful selection of brood 

 stock. Thus Mr. Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk," informs us that in that 

 county, like certain light varieties of the common partridge, they are confined to 

 particular localities: — "They have been found in different seasons in some coverts 

 at Oranmer ; and in the autumn of 1861, I saw three fine examples killed, I believe, 

 in Mrs. Hardcastle's preserves at Hanworth near Cromer, one of which, even in its 



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