168 WHITE PHEASANT—HIMALAYAN DITTO. [PART II. 
the egg-shells thus disposed, yet I am far from 
saying that it is confined to those species. 
The eggs of the White Pheasant are smaller 
and rounder than those of the Common Pheasant, 
and thus easily distinguishable from them. I have 
the authority of a keeper, who kept both kinds 
separate, though in adjoining houses, for saying 
that they also lay about a fortnight earlier than 
the common ones. These peculiarities would tend 
to prove that the two are quite distinct breeds, 
instead of the white birds, as some persons sup- 
pose, being a mere variety—the albinoes of the 
Common Pheasant. They will mate freely with 
the Common Pheasant, and the offspring of such 
union will again breed; pied, white, and ordinarily 
coloured birds being the result; but, where the 
breed was originally pure, and they have been 
kept separate, I have never known an instance 
(and I have seen them kept so a good many 
years in succession) where they have produced 
other than perfectly white birds. 
The eggs of the Himalayan Pheasant are also 
somewhat smaller, rounder, and more richly co- 
loured than those of the Common Pheasant, and 
come in (I am informed by a friend’s keeper) 
about a week or ten days earlier, 
