PAINTED PHEASANT. 



233 



gay colours of that sex : the feathers on the head 

 are elongated, and can be elevated at will : the 

 upper parts of the head and the neck, the back, 

 the rump, the wing-coverts, and the upper coverts 

 of the tail, are brownish red : the throat is whitish : 

 the rest of the under part is clear brown, or yel- 

 lowish varied with brown spots : the feathers of 

 the wings and tail are of the same colour as the 

 back, varied with transverse black stripes : the 

 tail is much shorter than in the male ; its two 

 middle feathers are barred with black, and the 

 rest irregularly spotted with that colour : the beak 

 and feet are yellow : the irides dusky yellow. 



The native place of this species is China, where 

 it is called Kin-Id : it has been common in Europe 

 for a long time, and appears to be very hardy : it 

 bears confinement well, and will breed readily in 

 that state : its eggs resemble those of the Guinea 

 Pintado ; they are redder than those of the Phea- 

 sant. The food consists of rice, hemp, wheat, or 

 barley ; it will also eat red cabbages, herbs, leaves, 

 fruits, especially plums, and insects ; the latter 

 form its favourite meal, and the difficulty of pro- 

 curing a sufficiency of these is one cause of the 

 many diseases it is subject to. Its flesh is re- 

 markably good, and is said to exceed that of any 

 other Pheasant. The female deposits her eggs 

 about March, and the young are hatched in twenty- 

 three days : the young differ in their plumage from 

 the old birds : during the first year they are of a 

 yellowish grey, varied with transverse brown lines ; 

 the next year the sexes may be discriminated, the 



