PPIEASANT. 
3G9 
most impenetrable coverts, or such as are covered with long- g-rass, 
which the female generally inakes choice of to deposit her eggs in, 
scraping together a few surrounding dry vegetables for a nest, and 
laying from eight to twelve eggs. The male is frequently heard to 
crow in spring, clapping- his wings at the same time. 
In confinement the female sometimes assumes the plumage of the 
male ; at this time she becomes barren, and is equally buffeted by both 
sexes. This strange change of plumage does not seem to be the effect 
of age ; for we have been assured by our noble friend, Lord Caernarvon, 
who has had several in that state, that it takes place at three or four 
years old. In the one that nobleman favoured us with, the colours 
were not so bright as generally found in the other sex. Whether bar- 
renness is the occasion of this change, or whether the want of commerce 
wdth the other sex, by reason of the male plumage, is the occasion of 
her not breeding, is yet to be discovered by dissection ; for if in the 
breeding season there should appear any eggs in the ovarium, and those 
distended, there can be no doubt of the latter cause. In a state of 
nature this circumstance probably does not take place. 
This bird does not appear to pair ; but the female carefully hides her 
nest from the male ; and we are informed where they are in plenty, 
and food provided for them, the two sexes do not in general feed to- 
gether. Domestication generally produces variety, and we find this 
bird mixed more or less with white ; sometimes wholly so. 
In the Naturalist’s Calendar, published in 1795, from the papers of 
the late Lev. Gilbert White of Selborne, a plate and description is 
given of a singular bird killed in Hampshire, which he considered as 
an hybrid between the Pheasant and domestic fowl. The head, neck, 
breast, and belly glossy black ; the back, wing-feathers, and tail pale 
russet, streaked somewhat like the upper parts of a partridge ; the tail 
was even at the end, and not very long ; legs bare of feathers and desti- 
tute of a spur ; round the eye the skin was bare and scarlet ; weight 
three pounds three ounces and a half. By the drawing- there also ap- 
pears to be some white on the shoulder, and some dark feathers in the 
middle of the tail beneath. 
It is generally believed the Pheasant and domestic fowl will breed 
together ; if so, possibly the colour of the spurious breed would depend 
much on that of the common fowl. Some authors have given a de- 
scription of such, but not at all like Mr. White’s bird. One in the 
Leverian Museum is almost throughout of a dingy reddish-brown 
colour, with very few markings. 
A variety, if not a distinct species, called the Ring Pheasant, is not 
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