20 



Fancy Pheasants. 



■^x 



hens are savage with weaker 

 hirds ; while the cocks will not 

 only fight each other and occasion- 

 ally kill their own hens, but, 

 even in the breeding season, get 

 so intolerably pugnacious as to 

 attack human beings, especially 

 ladies and children. And as they 

 are big, powerful birds, and armed 

 with very sharp and strong spurs, 

 ■which they well know how to use, 

 their assault is far from being a 

 joke. Of course all are not so bad 

 as this, and no doubt a few years' selection for temper 

 would result in the production of a sufficiently quiet 

 breed. Although not so good for the table as most 

 Pheasants, the domestic SUver Pheasant is found 

 to be convenient, about February and March, 

 for that purpose ; and very few birds of any 

 kind can equal it as an outdoor ornament, so 

 that it is well worth a certain amount of care in 

 cultivation. As it is, the Silver Pheasant is by far the 

 best bird for a beginner, for, in addition to the good 

 qualities I have alluded to above, it has those of bearing 

 confinement remarkably well and maintaining the purity 

 of its plumage, even after long incarceration in a cage or 

 hutch. Moreover, it does not make any unpleasant 

 noise, so that it is admirably suited for a town neigh- 

 bourhood, where even Chanticleer may be voted a 

 nuisance and the dismal yell of the Peacock or the 

 meriy whoop of the Argus would bring down the wrath 

 of a whole parish on the luckless fancier who ventured 

 on keeping them. In the spring the cock Silver Pheasant 

 shows a great enlargement of the red velvet skin of the 

 face, which rises above the eyes into two combs and 

 hangs down below the cheeks like wattles, but his 

 beauty can hardly be said to be improved thereby. 



Swinhoe's Kaleege. 



(Gennmus swuthoii.) 



This species much resembles the Silver Pheasant in 

 form, but is smaller and has a rather shorter tail. In 

 the colour of the face, feet, and bill it resembles that 

 bird, but differs much in plumage, being generally of a 

 very richly glossed purple- black, set off by a white crest 

 and centre tail-feathers. The upper back is also white, 

 flanked on each side by a large patch of rich metallic 

 maroon-red, and the edges of the wing-feathers have a- 

 green gloss. The whde effect is extremely rich and 

 striking, and the bird has very few rivals even in this 

 splendid family. 



The hen is closely mottled with 

 buff and black, thus differing from 

 the hens of other Kaleeges, which 

 are more uniform ; her short crest, 

 red face, and hen-like tail will 

 distinguish her from other mot- 

 tled hen Pheasants. 



Young cocks, as usual, exhibit 

 a mixture of both plumages. 



Swinhoe's Pheasant is only 

 found in a wild state in the 

 Chinese island of Formosa ; it has 

 Ijred well in captivity in Europe, 

 but is not so common as many 

 other Pheasants as yet. Its 

 singular beauty, however, com- 

 bining grace of form ■with a 

 brilliant and striking colouration, 

 renders it one of the most notice- 

 able kinds, and hence it is well 

 worth including here. 



The Lineated Kaleege. 

 ( Gennaius lineatus. ) 



This is the only species of the short-tailed, prick- 

 crested type of Kaleege worthy of attention at the 

 hands of the fancier. It is about the size of the common 

 Pheasant, with a very hen-like tail, and the usual red skin 

 round the eye. Tlie cock is black on the crest and 

 below, like the Silver Pheasant, and above of a 

 delicate grey, the colour being produced by a fine and 

 close zig-zag pencUlino; of black and white, very similar 

 to that seen on the males of many of the Duokkiud. The 

 pencilling gets coarser on the wings and tail, and 

 the inner or upper webs of the two central 

 feathers of the latter are jpure white, affording 

 a pleasing contrast to the rest of the plumage. 

 There are always some white streaks on the sides of 

 the breast, and sometimes the whole lower plumage 

 may be thus marked. The species seems to be generally 

 rather variable, the legs ranging from pinkish flesh- 

 colour to bluish horn-colour, and the eyes from brown to 

 white. 



The hen is brown, streaked and spotted with white on 

 the forepart of the body, and with the side-tail feathers 

 pencilled coarsely and irregularly with blackand white. 



This Pheasant extends from Burma to Siam. It is 

 not very common in confinement, although it has bred 

 repeatedly in the London Zoo. It is well worth its 

 keep, as its plumage, though quiet, has a delicate 

 beauty of its own, and it crosses well Avith the Silver 

 Plieasant, to which, in spite of the 'difference in form, 

 it is evidently very nearly related. The hybrid is a 

 most beautifully pencilled bird, and is — the male at all 

 events — practically indistinguishable from a true 

 species, Anderson's Silver Pheasant, which is found 

 in Upper Burma and Annam, and has been 

 described under several names. Some Annam speci- 

 mens of this bird are, or were recently, on view 

 at the Paris Jardin des Plantes. The stuffed bird shown 



