Geoffrey H. Clark—The Melanistic Mutant Pheasant 131



place. No doubt bad I been, as I ought to have, two months later

I should have obtained a larger list and also seen the wild flowers in

profusion ; only the Scarlet Anemonies (“ Lily of the Field ”) were

coming out in any numbers.



THE MELANISTIC MUTANT PHEASANT—

ITS POSSIBLE SOURCE AND ORIGIN


By Geoffrey H. Clark


This pheasant, which has from time to time appeared in British

coverts during the last few years, has excited the interest of sportsmen

and ornithologists alike, and there has been much speculation as to

whence it has come. For some time it was put down as a sport, nothing

more or less, to be classed on a par with black and wild rabbits and

albino Pheasants. This theory held until it was found by catching

and penning the birds that they bred chicks that grew up like the

parents, and unlike a true freak did not throw back to the immediate

ancestors. The opinion was then held that the bird must be a local

sub-species, whose colouring was governed by the conditions under

which it lived, and even more likely, by the food which it ate. But

if this were so, why was it still possible to find Colchicus, Torquatus ,

and Mongolicus in the same coverts as those in which the Melanistic

had made its appearance ? To add to the general confusion it was

found out that birds of precisely similar appearance to those found

in English coverts were turning up in other parts of the world. This

definitely refuted the idea of a local sub-species, for by no stretch of

the imagination could similar conditions be said to exist in Asia Minor,

whence the birds were reported, and Kent. I mention Kent specifically,

because a friend of mine who owns a few acres of shooting near the

Bomney Marshes tells me that this last season he encountered some of

“ the new black Pheasants ”, and because in 1930, I was shooting a

covert near Biddenden, and one of the party shot an unusually dark

hen. I have always regretted that I did not pay more attention to

this bird, but when I gave my opinion as to its possible identity, the

remark was greeted with sceptical smiles, and I let the matter drop.



