The Common Pheasant.^- — BIUDS.— — The Goloen Pheasant. 
.3!)7 
in tlie ancient kingdom of Colchis, on the eastern shore 
of the Black sea, and the bird is still abundant in a 
wild state in the Caucasian provinces. Its scientific 
names {Phasianus colchictts) are derived from those 
of the river and kingdom above mentioned. 
The general appearance of the Pheasant is too 
well known to need any description. The haunts of 
the Pheasants are woods and thickets, but they never 
thrive except in the vicinity of water, and are even 
fond of taking up their abode amongst the rushes and 
osiers of marshy places. The}' are terrestrial in their 
habits, walking and running along the ground in the 
same way as the common fowl, although with more 
grace and swiftness. Their flight is heavy and whir- 
ring, and they rarely take wing unless menaced with 
immediate danger. During the summer they even 
roost on the ground, but pass the long nights of 
autumn and winter upon the branches of trees. The 
cry of the cock Pheasant is a peculiar short crow. 
The food of these birds consists of various kinds of 
seeds, varied with wild fruits, green herbage, and 
insects. Ants, and their larvse and pupae, are favourite 
articles of diet with them. They may be seen eating 
blackberries, sloes, and haws, and their crops are 
sometimes found to be filled with acorns. 
Like our common poultry, and, indeed, like all the 
other species of this family, the Pheasant is poly- 
gamous, and the males and females associate only 
during the breeding season. The females deposit 
their eggs, which vary from ten to fourteen in number, 
in a small hollow lined with dead leaves, and scratched 
in the ground amongst long grass, or in the midst of 
bushes ; but so careless are they in many cases, that 
they have been known to drop their eggs in the nest 
of the partridge. When engaged in the work of 
incubation, however, the hen Pheasant sits very 
closely, and, trusting to the concealment afforded by 
the similarity of her brown colour to that of the ground, 
she will scarcely rise from her nest until nearly under 
the feet of an intruder. They lay heely in confine- 
ment, and the possessors of preserves usually keep a 
good many old birds in pens in order to maintain their 
stock. The eggs are hatched by common hens, and 
the young brought up with great care. The Pheasant 
is also distinguished by the facility with which it may 
be got to breed with other gallinaceous birds. In 
captivity it has bred with the common fowl and the 
guinea fowl, and wild hybrids between this bird and 
the black cock have been met with. 
The common Pheasant is liable to considerable 
variation in its plumage. Some specimens are met 
with quite white, others exhibit white patches, but the 
most common variation consists in the presence of 
white feathers scattered amongst the rest of the 
plumage. The Ring-necked Pheasant, which has 
been supposed to be a hybrid between the common 
Pheasant and the Chinese Ringed Pheasant (P. tor- 
quatus), is regarded by Mr. Yarrell as a mere variety, 
as is also the kind known as the Bohemian Pheasant. 
The curious circumstance of hen Pheasants acquiring 
a jflumage more or less resembling that of the cock 
bird, which was at one time supposed to be an effect of 
age, has been shown by Mr. Yarrell to be connected 
with the obliteration of the ovaries from some unknown 
cause, and to occur both in young and old birds. 
LADY AMHERST’S PHEASANT {Phasianus Amher- _ 
sticr) — Plate 19, fig. 70 — one of the most elegant birds 
of this family, is an inhabitant of continental India. The 
top of the head is of a green colour, but is adorned with 
a crest of slender crimson feathers ; and from the siiles 
and back of the head descends a beautiful white 
tippet, each feather of which is terminated by a green 
band ; the tail measures upwards of three feet in length, 
and is of a grayish- white colour, with numerous broad 
green bars on each feather. 
THE GOLDEN PHEASANT {Phasianus picli(s)—<ng. 
123 — resembles the preceding species in the possession 
of a crest and tippet, but is fur more splendid, or rather 
F'K. 123. 
The Golden Pheasant (Phasianus pictus). 
gaudy, in its colouring. Its crest feathers are yellow, 
and those of the tippet golden-yellow, barred with 
black at the apex. The back is metallic green, the 
rump and tail-coverts yellow, the wings blackish, 
with the secondaries blue, and the whole lower sur- 
face bright red ; a portion of the tail-coverts project 
in long hackle-like plumes of a red colour, and the 
elongated tail-feathers are mottled with brown and 
black, fl’his magnificent bii'd is a native of China, 
Mhere it is kept in a state of domestication. It has 
