THE GOLDEN PHEASANT. 
467 
are oaken-brown changing to purple on the edge of the outer web, and barred with jetty-black 
on the outer web and brown on the inner. The breast and front of the abdomen are golden-red 
with purple reflections, and diversified by the black edge of each feather ; the rest of the 
abdomen and under tail-coverts are blackish brown. In total length the full-grown male 
Pheasant is about three feet. The female is much more sober in her colors and less in size 
than her mate, her body being of a pale yellow-brown, and her length only some two feet. 
The gorgeous bird which is now known by the name of Reeyes’ Pheasant, but which 
has undergone so many changes of title, is a native of Surinagur and Northern China. 
It is a truly remarkable bird, for although its body does not surpass the ordinary Pheasant 
in size, the total length of a full-grown male will often exceed eight feet, owing to the very great 
development of the two central tail-feathers, which alone will measure six and seven feet in 
length, and are very wide at the base. This species has been brought alive to foreign countries 
and placed in the Zoological Gardens and aviaries, where it throve tolerably well ; and was 
sufficiently hardy to warrant a hope that it might be acclimatized to moderate climates. Its habits 
in a wild state are little known, but those specimens which have been kept in captivity behaved 
much like the ordinary Pheasant. Although so splendid and highly colored a bird, it inhabits 
very cold regions, the mountains of Surinagur being covered with snow. In that country it is 
known by the appropriate name of Doomdurour or Long-tail. 
No amount of artificial coloring could give the full effect of the gorgeous and ever- 
changing beauty which adorns the plumage of this magnificent bird ; while the simple black 
and white of an engraving gives but a very faint notion of its real magnificence. The 
absence of colors must, therefore, be faintly supplied with a brief description in words. 
The head is white, except a patch of light scarlet naked skin around the eyes, edged by a 
band of black which runs over the forehead, under the chin, and is rather broader over the 
ear-coverts. The neck is also broadly collared with white. The back of the neck, and the 
back itself are covered with shining scale-like feathers, each being a light golden-yellow^ and 
edged at the extremity by a band of deep velvety-black, thus producing an extremely rich 
appearance. The feathers of the breast and abdomen are snowy- white, banded and tipped 
with the same velvety-black as those of the upper parts with the exception of the middle of 
the breast and abdomen, which are deep black, and the under tail-coverts, which are also black 
covered with golden-yellow spots. The two central feathers of the tail are delicate gray, 
covered with numerous transverse and rather curved bands of rich dark brown, edged with a 
lighter tint of the same color. In one of these feathers, only four feet in length, Mr. Tem- 
minck counted forty-seven bands. The remaining feathers of the tail are grayish-wdiite, also 
profusely barred wdth deep brown, and passing into chestnut at their edges. They can be 
folded over each other, and they appear very narrow. 
Two very lovely birds are shown in the next illustrations, one glowing like the sun in the 
full radiance of gold and crimson, and the other shining like the moon with a soft silvery 
lustre, not so splendid, but even more pleasing. 
The Golden Pheasant is a native of China, where it is a great favorite, not only for its 
splendid plumage and elegant form, but for the excellence of its flesh, which is said to surpass 
in delicacy even that of the common Pheasant. 
For the purposes of the table, however, it is hardly likely to come into general use, as there 
are great difficulties in the way of breeding it in sufficient number, and one feels a natural 
sensation of repugnance to the killing of so beautiful a bird merely for the sake of eating it. 
As it is a tolerably hardy bird, bearing confinement well, and breeding freely, it has been 
turned out into preserves with the common Pheasant, but as yet without sufficient success to 
warrant the continuation of the experiments. 
This bird, together with another which will be briefly mentioned, is remarkable for the 
large ruff of broad squared feathers which folds round its neck, as well as for the finely devel- 
oped crest. This crest is of rich golden- yellow with a tinge of carmine. The feathers of the 
ruff are squared, and disposed in a scale-like fashion ; their color is rich orange edged with 
