CHAPTER XII. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED EOR THE COYERT (CONTINUED). 



THE JAPANESE PHEASANT {FSASIANUS 

 rUBSIGOLOB). 



;APAN, among the numerous objects of interest with which it 

 has furnished Europe, has supplied us with the most gorgeous of 

 the true pheasants — the P. versicolor. It is doubtful, indeed, 

 whether any of the gallinaceous group, magnificent as many of them 

 are, can surpass this bird in resplendent brilHancy. The wonderful 

 dark grass green of the breast, that no painter can equal, the 

 dark blue of the neck, and the brUHant scarlet of the face, taken 

 together, constitute one of the most effective combinations of colour 

 to be found in the whole class of birds. This splendid addition 

 to the fauna of Great Britain was utterly unknown in a living state in Europe 

 fifty years since. In 1840 a few birds were brought to Amsterdam from Japan. 

 Of these a pair passed into the possession of the Earl of Derby — the grandfather 

 of the present Earl — a man whose memory as a zoologist wiU be green when party 

 strife is forgotten. Of this pair the female died, and the breed was established 

 by crossing the male with several females of the ordinary species, and then pairing 

 the half-bred progeny with the old male, and continuing the breeding back until 

 the offspring were no longer capable of being distinguished from the original bird. 



At the death of the Earl the Knowsley collection came to the hammer. 

 A number of the versicolor pheasants, including the original bird, were purchased by 

 Prince Demidoff for his preserves in Italy, and others passed into the possession 

 of Mr. J. J. Gurney, of Norwich, by whom they were introduced into the preserves 

 of that country. Since that period other specimens have been imported, and at the 

 present time the P- versicolor is established as a denizen of many of our preserves. 

 In form, habits, and disposition the P. versicolor corresponds closely to our 

 oommon pheasants. As a game bird it is, both in the covert and on the table, of 

 undeniable excellence. 



