198 
RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 
known the white birds resuraeall their former brilliancy 
of plumage, after continuing for years in the albino 
state. There is another very beautiful variety which 
of late years has become extremely common in Scot- 
land, and has received the appellation of Bohemian 
Pheasant. The ground shade of the plumage be- 
comes of a rich green cream colour, but the head 
retains its glossy tint, and the black tips and mark- 
ings on the breast and belly, and back, appear even 
more conspicuous than in the ordinary state. This 
state may occur from a modificaticfn of the same 
causes which influence the change in the white va- 
rieties. 
The pheasant sometimes also crosses with the do- 
mestic fowl. Temminck mentions this as requiring 
great attention to accomplish ; but where poultry is 
kept upon the borders of a wood abounding with phea- 
sants, it occasionally happens, and would do so per- 
haps more frequently, if favourable opportunities oc- 
curred ; a specimen in our own possession, exhibit- 
ing all the mixed characters, was procured in a wild 
state. M. Temminck also records a solitary instance 
of a mule between the female common pheasant and 
male golden pheasant, which exhibited a curious 
but splendid mixture ; all his endeavours, how- 
ever, to procure a second specimen were ineffectual. 
The common pheasant breeds also freely with the 
ringed bird, and the offspring is productive. This has 
been considered by many as a proof that these two 
birds were identical, but in the whole of this order, 
