FREAKS AND ODDITIES 45 



colour cannot properly be described by the term albino. 

 They are examples of leucotism, but not of albinism. 

 For example, I had a beautiful white wood-pigeon 

 brought to me recently ; it was a lovely bird, but not 

 an albino in spite of its showy garb, because its eyes 

 were of the usual colour. We have, most of us, admired 

 white pheasants both old and young. On the whole, 

 I think the prettiest are the tiny chicks covered with 

 snow-white down, which forms a pretty contrast to the 

 mottled appearance of their fellows. White and pied 

 birds tend likewise to transmit their deficiency of 

 pigment to their offspring, for leucotism is to a large 

 extent hereditary in pheasants. Female birds do not 

 seem to vary in colour as much as cock pheasants ; 

 but this impression is perhaps partly accounted for 

 by the fact that we shoot and handle a majority of male 

 birds. The brown plumage of a hen pheasant appears 

 to be set off to great advantage by a copious admixture 

 of white body feathers ; but this feature is, in reality, 

 a grave disadvantage, as it tends to destroy the pro- 

 tective coloration of the brooding bird. As a natural 

 consequence, it renders it more liable to be discovered 

 and destroyed by foxes and other predaceous animals. 

 A few pied birds in the coverts, however, add to the 

 picturesqueness of the scene. • 



A more interesting and less usual variety of the 



