FREAKS AND ODDITIES 6i 



attitudes by which, in a wild state, the attention of the 

 females of his own species is attracted. The naked 

 scarlet skin above each eye was so protruded and pro- 

 minent as to give the head somewhat of a crested 

 appearance, and the finely arched tail was thrown up 

 like that of the turkey-cock when strutting about in 

 his pride. The love call, so loud as to be heard at a 

 great distance, was almost incessantly uttered.' ' 



An instance in which a pheasant cock paired with 

 a grey hen in a state of freedom was recorded by the 

 late Dr. Moore. A single hybrid was obtained by 

 their union. M. Suchetet has lately drawn attention 

 to the curious fact that, although the pheasant and 

 blackgame have been proved to produce hybrid off- 

 spring in upwards of thirty separate instances in Great 

 Britain, these mule birds remained entirely unknown 

 upon the Continent until about eleven years ago. 



During the last days of November 1884 a strange 

 bird made its appearance in the park of the chateau 

 of Jeltech, in Silesia, into which it had probably 

 strayed in search of food. No blackgame had been 

 seen in the vicinity for five-and-twenty years, though 

 pheasants were plentiful enough. The rara avis was 

 shot by a gardener, and proved to be a hybrid between 

 the pheasant and black-grouse. It was a female bird. 



' Natural History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 43. 



