124 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY. 



considerably more developed. The iris, whicli is white in the latter species, is of a 

 pale straw colour in the hybrids, as is the naked skin under the eye. The neck 

 under the tippet, as weU as the throat, is a resplendent green. The breast, which in 

 the Amherst is white, is a brilliant scarlet orange, with a narrow transverse band 

 of lighter yellow about an inch below the margin of the green feathers of the 

 throat. The flanks are of the same colour as the breast. The back is yellow, 

 running into the bright scarlet orange of the tail coverts and side sickle feathers. 

 The wing coverts are of a magmflcent dark steel blue.. In all the characters 

 mentioned the hybrids possess the most gorgeous hues of the two species conjoined, 

 The taU, however, is an exception; that of the Amherst is certainly more beautiful 

 than that of the Gold, which latter, however, appears almost unchanged in the 

 cross-breeds, but of somewhat increased size. As, however, in the so-called species 

 Thcmmalea obscura, the tail of the Gold tends to vary towards the markings of that 

 of the Amherst, and the upper part of the throat to assume a spangled character, 

 there would be no difficulty in breeding this cross with the Amherst taU. 



The four birds are the offspring of two Gold hens mated with one male 

 Amherst. They are remarkably tame, feeding out of the hand, and not offering to 

 escape from the gaze of strangers. 



Mr. Elliott, in his monograph of the IPhasianidce, gives a life-sized coloured 

 plate of this hybrid, and acknowledges that "in size and brilliancy of dress he 

 eclipses " both the parent species, adding : — " Contrary to my intention of not figuring 

 any hybrid pheasants, I have been induced to show this one, merely from its great 

 beauty and the comparative rarity of at least one of its parents; but at the same 

 time I cannot but believe that all those who breed pheasants, either for pleasure or 

 profit, would best consult their own interests by keeping their birds as pure in blood 

 as possible, allowing no foreign strain to intermingle, and resolutely setting their 

 faces against even such a magnificent impostor as here offers himself for our 

 admiration." I quote this passage as illustrative of the beauty of the birdsj although 

 I differ entirely from the conclusions arrived at by the writer. There can be no 

 possible doubt of the perfect fertility of the half-bred Amhersts. They have ahfeady 

 been mated with the pure Amherst, and three-quarter pure-bred birds have resulted 

 from the union. Examples of such exist in the Zoological Gardens, both of London 

 and Antwerp; and these show very little trace of the Golden species, That the 

 half-bred Gold and Amherst will be equally fertile when mated with one another, no 

 one who has had any practical experience in cross-breeding the different species of 

 FhasianidcB can have any doubt; and that an intermediate breed will be eventually 

 perpetuated, which will possess the united beauties of both parent species, and be 

 perfectly permanent in its characters, is a fact which I take the liberty of 

 prophesying, without having the fear of the beUeyers in the immutability and 

 permanence of species before my eyes, 



