FREAKS AND ODDITIES 49 



such specimens, and very fine they were. The best 

 that I have seen of late years belongs to Mr. F. P. 

 Johnson, of Castlesteads, Cumberland. The central 

 tail feathers of this pheasant appear to measure about 

 eighteen inches and a half, or about three inches less 

 than those of a good cock pheasant ; but I did not 

 see this bird in the flesh. The late Mr. Stevenson 

 met with an interesting pheasant hen in November 

 1877. 'The head and throat were far more glossy 

 than is usual in such birds, and the feathers of the 

 back and under parts were of a peculiarly rich coppery 

 tint. The Chinese strain was forcibly shown on each 

 side of the neck by a marked patch of white, as in 

 old cock birds.' ' 



Not a few of the pheasants killed in large shoots 

 will be found to show signs of a mixed origin. In- 

 deed, if the truth be told, the majority of our pheasants 

 are cross-bred. They are generally the fertile represen- 

 tatives of the blending of Common and Ring-necked 

 Pheasants, and, as already remarked, show plenty of 

 evidence of their mixed origin. Mr. W. B . Tegetmeier 

 is the highest authority upon English pheasants, and 

 has contributed many important articles upon their 

 history to the Field newspaper. This gentleman 

 considers that the use of the term hybrid as applied 

 * Zoologist, 1878, p. 44. 



£ 



