PAINTED CHINESE PHEASANT. 
the covert feathers are of a dull reddish colour ; 
the first immediately covering the quills in- 
clining somewhat to yellowish, with trans- 
verse lines of black. The under-side of the 
bird, from the bill to the tail, is a fine scarier. 
The tail is prodigiously longer than that of the 
Common Pheasant, more mottled, and in gene- 
ral of brighter plumage. It is chiefly ?- mix- 
ture of black and reddish brown : the two 
middle feathers are black spotted with brown, 
and the side feathers are obliquely streaked with 
black and brown. A few long and. narrow 
scarlet feathers, with yellow shafts, extending 
nearly half the length of the tail, proje£l from 
the rump; the thighs are clay-coloured; and 
the legs, claws, nails, and spurs, are alf yeH'ow. 
The female is smaller than the male, and 
her tail shorter ; the colours of her plumage, 
too, are inferior even to those of the Common 
Pheasant : it is extraordinary, however, that 
they sometimes acquire, in time, the beauty of 
the male. It is a well ascertained fa61:, that 
one belonging to Lady Essex changed, in the 
space of six years, her mean, dusky colour, 
into the rich lustre of the male, so as only to 
be 
