SlLVKll AND OTHER KaLEEGE PhEASAXT«. 



19 



CHAPTER V. 



SILVER AND OTHER KALEEGE PHEASANTS. 



The group of Pheasants known as Kaleeges ivre not so 

 uniform in appearance as those that have been dealt 

 with so far ; but they are not hard to distinguish, never- 

 theless. In size they are abo'it equal to the common 

 Pheasant or larger ; in form they somewhat recall the 

 lighter breeds of poultry, especially in their vertically 

 folded tails ; both sexes are crested, and have a red skin 

 round the eye, which can expand upward and down- 

 ward in the cocks when excited. The cocks are spurred, 

 and are very pugnacious ; they have a curious habit of 

 standing up and producing a whizzing noise by buzzing 

 with their wings. The Kaleeges naturally fall into two 

 ' types ; those in which the cook has a full drooping crest 

 and long curved tail, like ihe silver Pheasant, and 

 those in which the cock's cre^t is narrow and projecting, 

 and the tail little longer than tlie hen's.like the Lineated 

 Pheasant. Few of the latter type are worth keeping, 

 not being possessed of beauty either of form or colour. 

 The Kaleeges are forest birds, inhabiting the lower 

 slopes of tlie Himalaya=!, in India, and other warm 

 climates, but they are quite hardy in England. They 

 are, however, quite useless as game birds, being very 

 pugnacious, unwilling to rise on the wing, and flying 

 nconveniently low for shooting when they do so. 



The Silvee Kaleege. 



{Genncens in/cfhaiicfiis.) 



This is the largest and finest of the Kaleeges, exceed- 

 ing the common Pheasant in size. The cock's tail 

 reaches two feet in length. In colour he is purple-black 

 on the crest and on the under parts from throat to tail ; 

 the upper jJumage and tail are white, pencilled with 

 fine concentric hair-lines of Hack, the pencilling becom- 



ing strong and bold on the feathers of the wing and tail. 

 The ceniire l;ail-feathers, however, are unmarked, and at 

 a little distance the whole upper plumage looks white. 

 Some specimens are more strongly pencilled than others. 

 The bill is light green, the bare red skin of the face has 

 a rich velvety surface, and the legs are bright red, the 

 long spurs being white. The bill, legs. etc.. in rhe hen 

 are not so bright ; her plumage is plain snuffy brown, 

 without any pencilling, except on the belly, where there 

 is a little black pencilling, and on the outer pairs of tail- 

 feathers, which are black pencilled with white. 



Young cocks somewhat resemble the hen, but have 

 buff pencilling on the wings, and have black breasts and 

 black-and-white pencilled underparts below this. 



The Silver Pheasant is a native of Southern China, but 

 is now rare in a wild state in its native country, those 

 exposed for sale there having generally been bred in 

 ■lapan. It has long been known in Europe, and is the 

 easiest of all the Pheasants to keep and breed, while in 

 beauty it is unsurpassed, its outlines being more graceful 

 than fihose of any other member of the family, and its 

 colouration equally chaste and striking. It is 

 also so easily tameable that it may be allowed full 

 liberty, and might no doubt be rendered a common 

 poultry-yard bird in a few generations. But it haS'"one" 

 ^drawbaelc in its extr emely vicious temper. Even the 



