GOLDEN PHEASANT 19 



into the same barred plumage of buff and black, should yet, when affected by certain 

 internal physiological changes, reveal the fact that potentially she possesses the power, 

 by elaborate alchemy of pigment and feather specialization, to come to resemble 

 perfectly from beak to tail her mate, both in hue, pattern and modification of feather. 

 There seems little room for doubt that this physiological change has to do solely with 

 the atrophy of the ovary, or some less apparent disturbance of the sexual organs. 

 All the specimens which I have examined were very evidently barren, either from 

 extreme age, or from some acute or chronic local affection. 



An English aviculturist (Johnson, "Avicultural Magazine," N.S. III. 1905, pp. 

 143-144) gives the following account of a hen Golden Pheasant assuming cock plumage : 

 "Some thirteen years ago three little Golden Pheasant chicks, a few days old, were 

 given me. The mother had deserted them and they were suffering badly from cramp. 

 With the assistance of a tame bantam hen I successfully reared them. They turned out 

 to be one cock and two hens. One of the hens died about two years ago in her ordinary 

 brown attire ; the other (which from the first had a slight golden tint on the head) at the 

 next moult was adorned with the beautiful silky golden crest of her mate and a few 

 yellow feathers in her brown neck ; when she moulted again the breast and lower part of 

 the back became yellow, and at this last moult the yellow breast was streaked with 

 scarlet, the collar a very deep orange barred with black, the mantle on the shoulders a 

 metallic green, and the wings a beautiful steely blue barred with wavy lines of brown ; 

 the crest long, silky, and brighter gold than the cock's, and the same scarlet feathers in 

 the tail as he has. The bird was a great pet and exceedingly tame ; she was taken ill 

 on Christmas Day and died the following morning. I am having her preserved as a 

 curiosity. We thought her more beautiful than the cock, her deep orange collar 

 and golden breast being the only distinguishing marks. Had she lived over another 

 moult, I believe the breast would also have become scarlet. I am aware that a very old 

 hen past breeding will sometimes begin to crow and assume the spurs and hackles of the 

 cock, having had instances in my own poultry yard, but have never seen such a perfect 

 example of total change of plumage as this." 



The interesting points in the above description are the gradual change moult by 

 moult, and the orthogenic development of colour. We see that the buff and brown of 

 the female plumage change into yellow, this into orange, and finally appears the scarlet — 

 the most specialized colour of the adult male. This unquestionably reproduces the 

 necessary normal path of colour evolution along which the species has progressed. I 

 have been able to observe several individual females in the course of such change, and 

 these after considerable pigment alteration had already taken place. The individual 

 feather change showed the spectrum gradation to be invariably as I have stated it. The 

 nodes of colour, however, were usually somewhat irregular. 



In this ontogenetic change of sexual colour the specialized silky crest, curiously 

 enough, is the first structure to be acquired, following which come the dotted central 

 tail-feathers and the ruff. The entire ventral plumage becomes an even yellow, often 

 before the first traces of scarlet appear, and while in the yellow stage, greenish-yellow 

 tips appear on the back and rump, and bars of iridescent green on the mantle, and blue 

 on the secondaries. An interesting sidelight is thrown on the colours of the female, 

 which in general is barred with bufT and black, with a chestnut tinge on the mantle. 



