226 



PHEASANT. 



with transverse ocliraceous yellow stripes : the 

 rump and the upper tail-coverts are of a red-purple : 

 the quills are grey, spotted on their outer webs 

 with whitish yellow : the secondary quills and th^ 

 coverts of the wings are of a chesnut-red on their 

 outer webs, and black with brownish yellow spots 

 on their inner : the middle tail-feathers are clear 

 spotless red ; the lateral ones are more deep in 

 colour, spotted irregularly with black and brown. 

 The Rev. Gilbert White also mentions a hybrid 

 which was killed in Hampshire : this had the head, 

 neck, breast and belly, glossy black : the back, 

 wing-feathers, and tail, pale russet, streaked some- 

 what like the upper parts of a Partridge : the tail 

 even at the end, and short : legs destitute of a 

 spur : space round the eye naked and scarlet. 



Pheasants breed on the ground like Partridges, 

 the female laying from eight to a dozen eggs, in a 

 sort of rough liole formed by scratching a few 

 dried vegetables together : the young follow the 

 mother like chickens, as soon as hatched : wood 

 and corn lands seem necessary to their existence. 

 They bear confinement very well, and the female 

 produces a great many eggs in that state, and will 

 sometimes sit upon them if not disturbed by the 

 male, which is often the case ; on which account 

 the eggs are generally put under a common hen to 

 be hatched, and by this means a supply is kept 

 up. If it were not for this and the exertions of 

 gentlemen of property, it is probable the breed 

 would become extinct in a few years : the demand 

 for them at the tables of the luxurious, and the 



