Birds. 873 



glad in having it saved from oblivion." I have observed that it not unfrequently 

 happens that when once the attention of naturalists is called to an occurrence of this 

 kind, similar records speedily follow, and I trust that the publication of so interesting 

 a fact in the pages of ' The Zoologist,' will lead our ornithologists to keep a sharp 

 look-out for more specimens of this beautiful little quail. — Edward Newman ; Ja- 

 nuary, 1845. 



Food of the Pheasant. Mr. Milton, of Great Marylebone-street, had a cock-phea- 

 sant sent him a few days ago for preservation. On opening the crop he found no less 

 than 852 larvae of a species of Tipula ? specimens of which I send you ; they were 

 nearly all alive. There was nothing else in the crop but a few " oak spangles." It 

 appears that game of this description does some good, for I believe these larvae occa- 

 sionally do much mischief to meadows and the grain crops. — Fred. Bond ; Kings- 

 bury, Jan. 1845. 



On the Transmission of Colour by the White or Pied Pheasants to 

 their Young. By W. H. S. 



Mr. Waterton, in his amusing ' Essays on Natural History,' states, 

 if I recollect rightly, for I have not his works by me to refer to, that 

 he does not consider the white or pied pheasant transmits its colour 

 to its progeny, when left to breed in its natural wild state. In oppo- 

 sition to this supposition I send you the following remarks, the result 

 of several years' observation on the subject : feeling assured, from the 

 well-known urbanity of Mr. Waterton, and his desire to elicit truth, 

 that he will not take offence at my endeavouring to controvert his 

 opinion, when the facts I am about to relate are offered in support of 

 the conclusion I have come to. 



It is well known that amongst many kinds of quadrupeds the trans- 

 mission of the parents' colour to their offspring is very constantly and 

 strikingly illustrated. The same circumstance may be also observed 

 in many kinds of domestic birds, as in our common fowls, turkeys, 

 pigeons, ducks &c. ; and where birds of the same kind, but possess- 

 ing different colours, are allowed to intermix and breed promiscuous- 

 ly together, the result is generally, as in quadrupeds, a variegated 

 progeny, partaking of a large proportion of the colours of the male 

 and female from which they were descended. White and pied phea- 

 sants, when tame, and kept in an aviary for show, are sold by the 

 London dealers, Baker, Helps, Herring and others, for the express 

 purpose of breeding others of a similar colour from their eggs ; and 

 although the young ones may slightly differ in their markings from 

 the parent birds, yet the general cast of colour is almost always the 

 same ; and it is rare that the egg of a white or pied tame bird produ- 

 ces a young one of the original colour of the common pheasant, from 

 iii 2 Y 



