PHASIANUS TORQUATUS, iw 



Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant. 



Phasianus torquatus, Temm. Pig. et Gall. torn. ii. p. 326 et torn. iii. p. 670.— Gray, List of Birds in Coll. Brit. 

 Mus. part iii. p. 23.— Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 497, Phasianus, sp. 2.— Blyth, Cat. of 

 Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 245,— Gray, 111. Ind. Zool. pi. 

 Albn-torguatus. Bonnat. Ency. Meth. Orn. part i. p. 184. 



China is the true and probably the restricted habitat of this beautiful species of Pheasant ; for although 

 various writers have stated that it is a native of India, we have no reliable evidence of its existing- in a state 

 of nature in any part of that great country. 



Of the introduction of living examples into England, numerous instances are on record. Latham, in his 

 " General History of Birds," states that it is said to have been " first introduced by the late Duke of 

 Northumberland, and many were bred and turned out at his Grace's seat at Alnwick. Lord Carnarvon did 

 the same at Highclere, in Berkshire, and the late Duchess Dowager of Portland at Bulstrode, Bucks." More 

 recently it has been introduced upon the estates of other noblemen and gentlemen, and I am told is now very 

 numerous on that of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington. The consequence of this introduction has been 

 a cross between the Chinese bird and its near ally the Common Pheasant {Phasianus ColcMcus), producing 

 the variety or varieties known by the name of Ringnecks, and now so commonly killed in our woods. As a 

 matter of course, these hybrid birds do not closely accord in their markings with either of the true breeds ; 

 nor do they form a permanent variety ; no two, in fact, even from the same district, exhibiting precisely the 

 same character ; some specimens having their necks adorned with a well-defined ring, while in others it is 

 narrow and imperfect ; the flank-feathers too assume an intermediate tint, and never present the pure 

 pale buff colouring of those feathers in the P. torquatus, or the dark colouring of P. ColcMcus. These 

 details, though apparently trivial, may not be regarded as unimportant when we take into consideration the 

 interest so generally evinced with respect to these varieties of the Pheasant ; and the fact, that by the 

 mingling of the two species a prolific offspring has been produced ;■ — a circumstance, however, which must be 

 regarded as an exception to the general rule, for I believe that in few instances and with few forms would 

 such a result occur. 



Some six or seven years ago, living examples of this species direct from China were added to the 

 menagerie of the Zoological Society of London, where they bred in such abundance as to admit of a distri- 

 bution of eggs and individuals to the owners of estates in various parts of England. In some situations they 

 readily crossed with the ordinary Pheasant, the produce being birds similar to the Ringnecks of the English 

 preserves. 



Long prior to any recorded instance of the introduction of the P. torquatus into England, a few pairs were 

 landed at St. Helena, where, the vegetation being congenial to the habits and economy of the bird, they throve 

 amazingly, and in certain parts of the island they soon became and are even now very numerous. From an 

 examination of the skins kindly forwarded to me by Lady Ross, the drawings of Major Stack, and a fine 

 living male sent direct from the island, and now living in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, I find that 

 these birds do not differ from Chinese examples, except in being rather larger in size and in having a more 

 lengthened tail, which may probably be due to the abundance of berries they obtain from a kind of bramble 

 common on the island : no trace or taint of the P. Colchicus being observable, it would seem that China 

 alone has furnished the pheasants now so numerous at St. Helena. I am also indebted to the kindness of 

 Lady Ross for the following extracts from " Brooks's History of St. Helena," respecting the introduction 

 of the Pheasant into the island : — 



"In 1513, Fernandez Lopez was left in exile with a few negroes at St. Helena, as a punishment (after 

 being maimed) for deserting from the army of Alphonso Albuquerque at Goa, in India. These were the 

 first inhabitants of the island. Roots and vegetables of various kinds, fruit-trees and poultry were accordingly 

 landed for them, and partridges, pheasants, guinea-fowl, peacocks and other birds let loose. Under the 

 fostering care of Lopez they increased abundantly, and in a few years overspread the face of the country." 

 Captain Cavendish, who visited the island on the 8th of June 1588, found " no less plenty of pheasants, 



