AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
227 
THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 
Of all the species of Pheasants which are met with in 
our preserves and in our avaries, the Golden Pheasant is 
the rarest and the most beautiful. The male bird, when 
in perfect plumage, measures nearly three feet in length, 
of which the tail alone forms about two-thirds. The fea- 
thers of the fore part of the head are very long, 
silky, and of a bright yellow; and considerably over- 
hang those of the hinder part, which are of a brilliant 
orange, marked with transverse black rays. These last 
are elongated and extended backwards over the sides of 
the neck, and may be raised or depressed at will. A few 
minute hairs are scattered over the cheeks, which are of 
a livid complexion. The feathers of the back of the neck 
are tinged with a mixture of green and gold, and border- 
ed with black: those of the back and the upper tail-coverts 
are bright yellow, the latter terminating in a crimson 
border. Over the base of each wing is a broad patch of 
deep blue passing almost into violet; the wing-coverts and 
secondary quill-feathers offer various shades of chesnut 
and brown; and the primary quill-feathers are marked 
with reddish spots upon a brown ground. The tail-fea- 
thers are variegated with chesnut and black, the colours 
being disposed in oblique rays upon the lateral quills. 
Immediately above the base of the tail the feathers are of 
a beautiful scarlet. The throat is of a dusky brown; and 
all the rest of the under surface, including the neck, the 
breast, and the abdomen, is of a bright scarlet. The iris 
is bright yellow, as are also the bill and legs, but with a 
somewhat lighter tinge: the latter are furnished with mo- 
derate-sized spurs. 
In the female, as is usual in this tribe of birds, the co- 
lours are infinitely less splendid than those of the male. 
The upper parts are of a rusty brown varying in intensity; 
the under surface is marked with spots of a deep brown 
on a lighter ground; the throat is nearly white; the wings 
are transversely barred with black; and the tail, which is 
considerably shorter than that of the male, is variegated 
like the wings. 
These magnificent birds are natives of China; and it 
was warmly maintained by Buffon, in accordance with 
his theory of the degeneration of animals, that they were 
merely a variety of the common Pheasant, which had as- 
sumed a more splendid plumage in consequence of the 
superior fineness of the climate in which they dwelt. Un- 
fortunately for this hypothesis the common Pheasant is 
also widely spread throughout the same region, in which 
it preserves all the characters by which it is distinguish- 
ed in Europe, and never produces in its wild state a mixed 
breed with its supposed variety. No naturalist since 
Buffon has imagined such a transformation possible. In 
our menageries a mixed breed is sometimes obtained, but 
with the greatest difficulty, and the product is absolutely 
incapable of continuing the race. It requires indeed no 
small degree of care and attention to procure a breed from 
the Golden Pheasants themselves. Much of the difficulty, 
as well as much of the tenderness of constitution mani- 
fested by these birds, is attributed by M. Temminck to 
the close confinement in which they are usually kept, and 
to the very precautions which are taken to preserve them 
from the effects of cold. He advises that they should be 
gradually habituated, like the more common race, to the 
large pheasantries in which the latter are preserved, and 
doubts not, that as they multiplied under such circum- 
stances, they would become more and more hardy, until 
at last they would be fully capable of supporting the 
cold of our northern winters. The experiment, he tells 
us, has already been made in Germany, where they have 
been kept at perfect liberty in an open pheasantry, in 
company with the common species, and suffered no greater 
inconvenience than the latter from the change of seasons. 
[ Gardens of the Zoological Society. 
ON THE INJURY THE FARMER SUSTAINS 
FROM GAME. 
It is generally considered that game is highly inju- 
rious to the farmer; and this idea is thoughtlessly convert- 
ed into a sweeping accusation: looking entirely on the 
gloomy side of the question, without once considering 
that as good is frequently accompanied by evil, so we 
ought duly to weigh the matter in all its bearings, and by 
no means pronounce a hasty sentence. Hence as evils are 
frequently attended with their own correctives, let us care- 
fully examine before we denounce, lest our thoughtless im- 
petuosity should precipitate us into irksome and perhaps 
irremediable error. 
With respect to feathered game, and the pheasant and 
partridge in particular, it must be allowed that both these 
birds will feed, and feed greedily too, upon most, if not 
all kinds of grain, as well as pulse; but they seldom pull 
down the ears or the stocks for this purpose: it is true, 
those ears of corn, on the exterior edges, which, from the 
weather or other causes, hang in a declining posture, and 
nearly touch the ground, may be deprived of some of 
their grains by these birds, and where the crop is thin and 
indifferent, they will run much amongst it, and thus make 
worse what is already sufficiently bad; but the injury 
which a thick full crop sustains from their depredations is 
