an extraordinary Pheafant. 533 
I found the parts of generation to be truly female: 
they were as perfect as in any hen pheafant that is not in 
the lead; prepared for laying eggs. There were both the 
ovaria and the ovi-du<£t. 
As thefe obfervations have hitherto been principally 
made upon birds that are wild, little more can be known 
of them; but from what happened to a hen pheafant 
belonging to a lady well known to the President, it 
Ihould feem probable, that this character originates from 
a change at a late period of the animal’s life, and does not 
originally grow up with it. This lady for fome time 
had bred pheafants, and had paid particular attention to 
them. One of her hens, after having produced feveral 
broods, moulted, and the fucceeding feathers were thofe 
of a cock. This animal was never afterwarde impreg- 
nated. Hence it is moft probable, that all thofe hen phea- 
fants which are found wild, and have the feathers of the 
cock, were formerly perfedt hens, but that they are now 
changed by age, and perhaps by certain conftitutional 
circumftances. 
This change of feather in hen pheafants, although 
perhaps more common in them than in any other bird, 
yet is not abfolutely peculiar to them; for we have a 
well attefted inftance of the fame phenomenon in a pea- 
4 A 2 hen, 
