172 FMEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



I could hear their calls in the little thickets and woods 

 scattered over the country.' 



" For th.e following note on tlie bird now before us, and 

 the preceding species, we are indebted to the kindness of 

 Joseph Wilson, jun., M.D., of the United States Navy, wbo 

 was attached as surgeon to the squadron of the expedition : — 



" ' Our acquaintance with the pheasants of Japan began 

 soon after our arrival at Simoda, or about the middle of April, 

 1854. A Japanese brought to the landing-place a young bird, 

 which, witb the dark tips on his downy covering, and his 

 frequently repeated "peet-peet," migbt have been mistaken 

 for a young turkey but for his diminutive size. This in- 

 teresting little fellow had been obtained by hatching an egg of 

 a wild pheasant, obtained in the hills, under a domestic fowl. 



" ' A few days after this a male pheasant in full plumage 

 was brought to the same place, dead but uninjured, and 

 evidently but very recently killed. The golden brilliancy of 

 this bird's plumage is probably not exceeded by any object in 

 nature, and is quite equal in lustre to th.e most brilliant 

 markings of the humming-birds, or the most highly burnisbed 

 metal. This splpndid colouring covers the whole body of the 

 bird, merely shaded with a little copper-red about the tips 

 and maryins of the feathers, so as to show the lance-head 

 form of the feathers. This specimen was taken on board the 

 flagship Independence and preserved. 



" ' The specimen of the other species that I saw was shot 

 by Mr. Heine, who made a very beautiful painting of it. The 

 two birds are found in the same localities, and seem to be 

 similar in habits. 



'"^The Japanese system of agriculture, althougb very 

 minute, and appropriating all available land to some useful 

 purpose, yet affords abundant shelter for the native fauna. 

 Scarcely any land is tilled except such as can be watered, so 

 that the tops of hills and large portions of mountainous and 

 precipitous places are appropriated to the growth of timber, 

 or left covered with the primitive forest. These wooded 



