Fancy Pheasants. 



CHAPTER I, 



INTRODUCTION 



Considering that those very familiar birds, the 

 Common Fowl, Guinea-fowl, and Turkej;, belong to the 

 Pheasant family, it is somewhat astonishing that so 

 few other species are, as gardeners would say, in culti- 

 vation. True, we have the Peacock, the special fancy 

 of great King Solomon, and the gold and silver Pheasants 

 are not unfamiliar. But, taking them as a group, the 

 Pheasants, among English people at least, cannot be 

 said to have attained that popularity which la enjoyed 

 by some other families of birds, such as Parrots and 

 Ducks, or even Doves, for that matter. 



This is a great pity, for the Pheasant family not only 

 comprises the most gorgeous of all known birds, but most 

 of themare very hardy,and will breed in captivity,andthey 

 are not more difficult to manage than ordinary poultry, 

 if the fact that they are still wUd birds be taken into 

 account. At the same time some of them are undoubt- 

 edly more susceptible of domestication than others, 

 and even as much so as the common fowl, which, as 

 everybody knows, is more domesticated by a great deal 

 than the Guinea-fowl, which has not been for long, 

 comparatively speaking, under the dominion of man. 

 There is no reason whateverwhy the shorter-tailed species 

 of Pheasants, which also happen to be the steadiest, 

 should not be taken up as show birds and trained to 

 the pen. The exhibition of such would certainly draw the 

 general public to a show more than any breed of fowls 

 could nowadays ; and thoagh, as a rule. Pheasants 

 would prove uninteresting to the breeder who likes 

 striving to fix new points and altering a breed, this would 

 not always be the case. For although the Pheasant 

 family commonly breed as true as most wild or recently- 

 tamed birds, yet they are peculiarly liable to " sports" 

 of a very well-marked kind, as I shall have occasion to 

 point out latet on ; and, moreover, they hybridise very 

 freely, the hybrids being sometimes f ertUe, and occasion- 

 ally possessing great beauty. It is more remunerative, 

 however, at present, to breed pure-bred birds, which 

 fetch very good prices, even the common golden and 

 silver species being more expensive than many birds 

 which have been much less bred in captivity. 



Pheasants, however, are not so expensive as fancy 

 poultry, and the fact that they truly propagate their 

 kind, as a rule, renders their breeding a matter of more 

 certain profit, while if sports are obtained, or Pheasant 

 hybridising ever becomes popular, there will be enough 

 speculation for anybody. 



The birds of this noble family will, however, specially 

 appeal to the fancier who loves beauty for its own sake, 

 and desires a bird that he can keep and breed, and watch 

 even in a small garden. For this purpose the Pheasant 

 family are eminently suited ; though shy with strangers, 

 they are really among the most tamable of birds, as a 

 visit to any zoological garden will testify ; their beauty 



is, as I remarked above, quite unsurpassed, and it does 

 not change according to season, like that of so many 

 lovely Ducks and Finches, and their diverse ways of 

 showing it off during the breeding season form a detail 

 in their habits of surpassing interest. 



In all the birds of this family commonly to be met 

 with the sexes can easily be distinguished when adult, 

 which is, I need not say, a great advantage to the 

 beginner ; young birds are often hard to tell apart at 

 first, but I should not advise anyone to start literally ah 

 ovo with these birds, but to get a pair or pen of adults, 

 and start breeding on their own account. In this series 

 of articles I propose to treat not only of what are usually 

 known as Pheasants, but of other members of the 

 family which are procurable, such as the Peafowl, 

 Jungiefowl, etc. I shall use the scientific names 

 employed in the British Museum Catalogue of Birds, 

 Vol. XXII., and I shall frequently be indebted to Mr. 

 W. B. Tegetnieier's standard work on Pheasants for 

 information. Indeed, in the existence of such a book I 

 should not have ventured to write on the subject myself 

 were it not that Mr. Tegetmeier's book is intended as 

 much or more for sportsmen than for fanciers, while my 

 "wn present object is simply to encourage the cultiva- 

 tion of these beautiful birds as things of beauty and 

 nothing beside, although I have pointed out above how 

 their cultivation may at least be made to pay its way, 

 owing to the present high value of the birds. 



Should Pheasant-breeding ever become more general, a 

 profitable article might be found in the gorgeous plumage 

 of the males ; were Pheasants largely reared to supply 

 plumes, much of the persecution they and other 

 brilliantly-clothed birds undergo in the cause of fashion 

 would cease ; and of course there is no more cruelty or 

 waste of life in rearing a pheasant for its plumes than a 

 fowl for its flesh, especially as the former is even 

 better for food. Tame birds can be called into being in 

 any number at our will, as is done with the Pheasants 

 used for sport ; but wild ones always exist under 

 difficulties, and any serious extra persecution must in 

 the long run be dangerous to the species. Of course 

 killing tame birds in cold blood for their feathers is 

 repugnant to most people's feelings ; but then they 

 should not wear feathers at all if they object to 

 taking life for that purpose ; not that life need neces- 

 sarily be taken. Birds of bright plumage often cast 

 much of their special adornment almost all at once, and 

 if they were kept under close observation at this time, 

 the dropped ornaments could be collected very little the 

 worse for wear. 



Treatment in Geneeal. 



As the habits of the common fowl are typical of those 

 of the Pheasant family in general, so their treatment 

 will not present any special difficulty to people 

 acq^uainted with poultry, if the wilder and more 

 vicious nature of most of the Pheasants be borne in 



