24 



Fancy Pheasants. 



shorter tails than the cooks, though of a similar pointed 

 form. Their plumage is mottled with light drab and 

 black, and all are very much alike. Their sharp tails 

 are the best characteristic for distinguishing them from 

 other hen Pheasants. It is true, however, that the hens 

 of the I'uffed Pheasants described in tlie last chapter 

 have a similar style of tail, but their different marking 

 distinguishes them at once. 



The Pheasants of the present type are found -wild all 

 across the temperate parts of the Old World from 

 Ireland to China and Japan. They are stronger on the 

 wing than most Pheasants, and are very hardy, bearing 

 both cold and heat well ; while one species at least 

 (Phasianus principalis, the White- winged Pheasant) is 

 tolerant of wet also. . They are not a match for several 

 of the other groups when it comes to a fight, and it 

 is this, perhap', that limits their natural extension into 

 some countries ; for they have been artificially intro- 

 duced into many places where they do not naturally 

 occur, and have tlinven well there. 



They have a rather wild disposition which, while 

 fitting them well for the cover, renders them less de- 

 sirable for the aviary than many other kinds. But yeiy 

 tame individuals may occur, and they are quite worth 

 keeping for their beauty alone, although so well known. 



The Common Piikasant. 

 [Phasiatnis colchictis.) 



This form is tlie only one naturally existing in 

 Europe and Western Asia, and it is suspected that it 

 was introduced into the British Isles by the Romans, 

 who are known to have kept and bred the bird in con- 

 finement. With us it has almost ceased to exist as a 

 species, owing'to much inter-breeding with the Ring- 

 necked Pheasant of China, and to a less extent with 

 the Green Pheasant of Japan, both of which I shall have 

 occasion to describe, as they ai-e the only other 

 Pheasants of this type easily obtainable. Some people still 

 like this old-fashioned "dark-necked" breed the best, 

 as it is less liable to stray than some hybrids, and it is 

 accordingly not unfrequently ofTered for sale. A pure- 

 bred male of the Colchian Pheasant should have a some- 

 what uniform appearance, the dark bronze-green of the 

 crown not contrasting strikingly with the purple neck ; 

 and the head and neck should show no white. The 

 deep golden bay of the breast should extend to the 

 flanKs also, the former being laced and tlae latter 

 spangled with deep metallic imrple. The flat of the 

 ■\viog should be sandy brown, and the saddle maroon- 

 red. Green in the saddle or white on the neck are 

 indications of the blood of the Chinese species, and most 

 birds display these more or less nowadays. 



This Pheasant or its hybrids — it is now necessary to 

 make this qualification — has crossed with other species 

 to a most remarkable extent. I have in the last chapter 

 alluded to its hybrids with the ruffed types, which 

 hybrids are always, I believe, unfertile. The same 

 remark applies to its hybrids with the common 

 fowl and the Blackcock, which are not very 

 uncommon. Powl-and-Pheasant hybrids favour the 

 Pheasant most in form, and have no combs or wattles ; 

 but they show different colours in their plumage, much 

 as fowls do, although with obvious traces of the 

 Pheasant. They are generally the offspring of a male 

 Pheasant with a hen. This fact was known many cen- 

 turies ago to Chaucer, who speaks of " the Pheasant, 

 .scorner of the cock by night. He evidently thought 

 the Pheasant's encroachments on Chanticleer's harem 

 were made under the cover of darkness, though as a 

 matter of fact the wild bird is, I believe, the better 

 fighter, and can defeat his rival in open day. In the 

 case of the Blackcock, however, that gallant Grouse has 

 been seen to defeat the cock Pheasant in fair fight, 

 although h'6 is unarmed with spurs. Our more or less 

 mongrel Pheasants vary in colouration, much as does 

 the Peacock ; thus botli white and pied varieties are 

 produced, which might be propagated by selective 



breeding. But, curiously enough, crossing a white 

 and a coloured bird wUl not result in a pied 

 offspring, but some of the young will resemble 

 one parent and some the otl'ier. Another curious 

 variety is what is known as the Bohemian Pheasant, 

 for no ijarticular reason apparently. This is evidently 

 analogous to the buff varieties of poultry, being 

 of a cream colour, with the usual spangling and' lacing, 

 and with the dark neck much less glossy. It breeds 

 true, but I have never seen either a specimen or a 

 description of the hen of the variety. It may occur with 

 or without the ring on the neck. 



The Chinese oe Ring-necked Pheasant. 

 (Phasianus torqutus.) 



Introduced into England more than a century ago, 

 this native of China is not likely to be met with pure, 

 unless imported. It varies even in its wild state, but 

 in its most typical form is very distinct in colour from 

 the Colchian breed, and much more striking in appear- 

 ance. The male has a light bronze crown with pure 

 white eyebrows, and a broad white ring all round the 

 base of the neck, these markings finely showing up the 

 rich purj)le colour. The breast and flanks, although 

 marked as in the older breed, are quite difierent in 

 ground colour, this being bay only on the breast, while 

 the flanks are light golden buff; the flat of the wing, 

 and the saddle are French-grey, the latter glossed with 

 green. The whole plumage thus presents a variegated 

 appearance most characteristic of the species. 



1 cannot give any criterion for distinguishing the 

 hens. 



The Chinese Pheasant, like his human fellow-country- 

 men, is very hardy, and will thrive anywhere, bearing 

 the cold of a United States winter and the heat of a 

 Bengal summer quite well. It is also a good breeder 

 and bears confinement well. Two hens in the Calcutta 

 Zoological Gardens were confined without a cock, and 

 one was actually found sitting on eggs close up to the 

 front of the pen, thus showing how tame some Pheasants 

 even of the wilder types wUl become. It is an interest- 

 ing fact that when Gold Pheasants are sent over to 

 Calcutta from China, they are almost always males, the 

 wily Chinese assigning as their mates the hens of the 

 present species. Once only, in the course of nearly half a 

 century's experience, has Mr.Rutledge received a Golden 

 lien, and this was quite recently. I saw the bird, which 

 was exactly like European-bred specimens. I may men- 

 tion that niost of the Gold Pheasants sold in China are, 

 like the Silver ones, really bred in Jajian. 



The Gkeen oe Veesicoloe Pheasant. 

 (Phasianus versicolor. ) 



Japan has two Pheasants of its own, of which the 

 present species is one, and it is certainly the most 

 distinct of its kind, no doubt owing to ages of isolation. 

 The cock has the breast and flanks dark uniform 

 metallic green with no markings^ reaching right up to 

 the purple neck ; the crown is also dark with no light 

 eyebrows. The flat of the wing and the saddle, how- 

 ever, are French grey as in the King-necked form. The 

 only bay colour to be seen is on the shoulders, so that 

 the whole ett'ect is very different from that produced by 

 the plumage of the other two species. The hens of this 

 kind are distinguishable from the others by being much 

 more heavily marked with black, though this is best 

 appreciated on comparison. 



This Pheasant was introduced many years ago, and, 

 the hen of the first pair being lost, the cock was crossed 

 with common Pheasant hens, and the progeny bred back 

 till the true type was re-established. Although more 

 have been obtained, and the birds bred and turned out 

 in the open, so as to become to a certain extent inter- 

 mixed with the ordinary mongrel Pheasants of the . 



