PHEASANTS AND PHEASANTS. 
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for example, by a dog. To the pheasant, much more truly than to the 
ostrich, may be applied the saying, that he thinks he is in safety when 
he has hidden his head. Naumann declares that his cowardice — if we 
can call cowardice what is obviously a " constitutional infirmity " — is 
perfectly unlimited. It is not exceeded even by the hysterical panic 
of a sentimental young lady. A mouse throws him into an .'.•vcess 
of terror. A crawling snail will so affright the hen-pheasant as to 
induce her to forsake her eggs ; though she remains in a kind of 
reverie, motionless and, as it were, dead, when threatened by a real 
danger. 
It is another interesting fact in the social physiology of the 
pheasant, that he shows no affection for or sympathy with his 
kind. He is the very impersonation of sullen exclusiveness. An 
American backwoodsman is not more indifferent or averse to the 
joys of friendship. There are hermits in the Bird World as well 
as among men. Two cock-pheasants meet one another; immedi- 
ately they fall to blows ; they fight furiously and breathlessly ; 
their feathers are scattered in all directions ; their blood flows freely ; 
and often the combat has a fatal issue. Every pheasant-keeper 
knows that a couple of cocks must not be left together; they must 
be separated, or a third must be introduced as peace-maker. It may 
be added, that the male bird shows no affection for his mate or his 
young. 
There are pheasants and pheasants. The common English species 
is a handsome bird, with steel-blue plumage about the neck, and a 
mixture of black, brown, orange, red, and light yellow on the back and 
wings ; the breast and belly glowing with a golden red, and shot with 
lustrous tints of gold and purple. There is also the ring-necked, 
originally a native of the warm wooded districts of India and China. 
Java produces the Phasianus versicolor, with emerald prevailing in 
his glossy plumage ; and the north of China Reeves' pheasant, whose 
predominant colour is white, and whose tail is nearly six feet in length. 
The golden and silver pheasants are also natives of China. Of the 
former Badinus quaintly says : " Though he has been known for ages, 
the spectator contemplates him always with the same feelings of 
