Varieties. 17;3 



its claw, yV ; second toe, ly^'.j, its claw, ^w; third toe, If, its 

 claw, y';- ; fourth toe, lj\, its claw, fV." 



Several well-marked and perfectly permanent varieties of 

 this species are not uncommon. One of the best known is 

 the so-called Bohemian pheasant, in which the entire plumage 

 is much less glossy, the general ground-colour being of a 

 creamy tint ; the head, neck, and spanglings on the breast 

 and tail showing the dark markings in varying degrees of 

 intensity in different specimens. The Bohemian pheasant 

 is occasionally produced from the common form in different 

 localities ; the variation is hereditary, and may be 

 propagated by careful selection of brood stock. Thus 

 Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk " (vol. i., p. 368), informs 

 us that in that county, hke certain light varieties of the common 

 partridge, they are confined to particular localities : — " They 

 have been found in different seasons in some coverts at 

 Cranmer ; and in the autumn of 1861 I saw three fine examples 

 killed, I believe, in Mr. Hardcastle's preserves at Hanworth, 

 near Cromer, one of which, even in its abnormal plumage, 

 showed a decided relationship to the Eing-necked cross by 

 the white mark on either side of the neck " — a circumstance 

 also noticed by Macgillivray. 



Purely white varieties of the common pheasant occur 

 annually in various coverts without any apparent cause. A 

 correspondent, who has been a pheasant rearer for thirty years, 

 writes : " Four years ago a nest of thirteen eggs was brought 

 in by the mowers. All the eggs were hatched ; eleven were 

 perfectly white birds, the other two the common colour. 

 Nine of the white birds were reared — six cocks and three hens ; 

 three cocks were turned out, the others were kept in the 

 pheasantry, pinioned. The white pheasants proved very 

 bad layers — very deUcate, their eggs very bad ; and those that 

 were hatched very difficult to rear, and there never was a 

 white bird bred. The extraordinary thing is, that where 

 the nest was taken up the keepers had never before -or since 

 seen a white pheasant. The three cocks turned out never 



