46 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANT 



pheasant is the pale, buff-coloured form, which is 

 popularly known as the Bohemian Pheasant. The 

 title is a misnomer ; how it was invented I do not 

 know. It was probably a freak of fancy, for the 

 Bohemian Pheasant occurs more frequently in England 

 than anywhere else. The variety appears to have 

 originated with the Common Pheasant, at a time when 

 the Ring-necked Pheasant was a stranger to Europe. 

 A good portrait of a so-called Bohemian Pheasant is 

 to be seen in the Louvre, among the chefs -d'ceuvre of 

 a painter named Desportes, who flourished between 1 6 6 1 

 and 1743. Two magnificent pheasant cocks of the old- 

 fashioned type appear running before dogs in the fore- 

 ground, while a pale bird of the so-called Bohemian 

 variety is painted in the act of rising, and forms the 

 most corispicuous feature in the upper part of the canvas. 

 Oddly enough, I found a very similar bird to this Bo- 

 hemian exposed for sale in the Paris market in October 

 1894 ; it was, unfortunately, too much damaged to be 

 worth preserving. But ' Bohemians ' crop up among the 

 Ring-necked Pheasants as well as among plain-necked 

 birds. Mr. C. F. Archibald, for instance, lately sent 

 me a photo of a fine male ' Bohemian,' obtained upon 

 his own property at Rusland, in which the white collar 

 of the Chinese bird forms a prominent feature. 

 WhethQr Isabelline or Bohemian specimens of the 



