224 



PHEASANT. 



■4- 



hues : the abdomen and the under tail-coverts are 

 of a reddish brown colour : the wings are brown- 

 purple, spotted with yellowish white : the quills 

 are brown, with transverse stripes of reddish 

 white : the two middle tail-feathers are very long 

 and arched ; their centre is olive-grey, varied with 

 transverse black bands, and their margins are of a 

 chesnut-purple : the rest of the tail-feathers are 

 similar in colour, but much shorter : the legs are 

 dusky, furnished with a strong membrane between 

 the toes, and a blunt spur on the tarsi. 



The female is less in size : the general colour 

 brown, variegated with grey, rufous, and dusky : 

 the region of the eyes is covered with feathers : 

 tail much shorter than in the male, but barred as 

 in him : old females often attain the plumage of 

 the male, and possess a hard tubercle on the tarsi 

 in the place of the spur of the male. Young birds 

 have the plumage of an uniform grey, approaching 

 greatly to that of the female. 



This bird is another instance of the changes 

 animals undergo when they lose their native 

 freedom, and are under the dominion of mankind. 

 It is greatly subject to variation, and in addition 

 to that, it will propagate with other species, and 

 produce hybrids : the first variety worth noticing 

 is the Variegated Pheasant, which has its plumage 

 white, varied in an infinity of ways with that of 

 the first described; in other respects similar to 

 that bird. The next is entirely white, with a 

 slight tracing of the characters proper to the 

 species. A hybrid is described by Dr. Latham 



