In the Japanese Mountains. 217 



Returning on board in the evening, I found that our 

 ■ohaplain, tlie Eev. George Jones, had purchased a pheasant of 

 the same kind from a Japanese root-digger in the hills. It 

 was not wounded or otherwise injured, and seemed to have 

 been either caught in a trap or found dead. To my inquiries 

 of the Japanese Dutch interpreter whether these birds were 

 over himted, I could obtain but evasive answers ; but if, 

 however, such is the case, the right is undoubtedly reserved 

 to the princes and nobility. 



" ' It appears that both these kinds of pheasants inhabit 

 similar locahties, and are abundant over the southern and the 

 middle parts of the island of Nipon, for even during my 

 rambles in the vicinity of Yokohama, in the Bay of Yeddo, 

 I could hear their calls in the little thickets and woods scattered 

 over the country.' 



" For the following note on the 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, who 

 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, with the dark tips on his downy covering, and his 

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

 for a young turkey but for his diminutive size. This 

 interesting 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 

 e/idently but very recently killed. The golden brilliancy of 

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

 Nature, and is quite equal in lustre to the most brilliant 

 markings of the hunmiing-birds, or the most highly burnished 

 metal. This splendid colouring covers the whole body of the 

 bird, merely shaded with a httle coppered-red about the tips 



