THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
359 
March 4. 
cumber and Melon beds, and give all other objects that 
attention the season demands. J. Robson. 
THE GOLDEN AND THE SILVER PHEASANTS. 
(Continued from jmyc 343.) 
Some readers may be aware of the metamorphoses which 
the French theorists of the last century asserted to have 
taken place among the various species of pheasants. Even 
yet the bold hypothesis is far from exploded. It is not out 
of place, therefore, even now to quote the conclusion at 
which Temminck arrived; namely, that “ the arguments by 
which Button, or rather his illustrious fellow-labourer, endea¬ 
vours to prove the specific identity of our silver pheasant 
with the common pheasant of Europe, are not very plausible. 
Indeed, in these days, we cannot permit any doubts to be 
entertained respecting the distinction which exists between 
the two species.” 
I translate the description of the bird given by the above- 
named naturalist, as more precise than anything which I 
could myself offer:— 
“ The ordinary length of the male of the silver pheasant 
is two feet eight inches; its wings, when folded, do not 
reach further than the origin of the tail, which is long 
and much upraised ( tres etagee) ; it is composed of two 
planes which are inclined to each other at a very wide 
angle; the two middle feathers are long and flat, their 
shaft is curved, and describes a parabola; those which 
come next slope in the same plane; the bird carries this tail 
somewhat raised, a position which is necessary to prevent 
the tips of these long central feathers from dragging on the 
earth. 
“ Naturalists are in error, when they say that this phea¬ 
sant, like many other species of the same genus, has on its 
cheeks a naked patch more or less considerable : the appa¬ 
rent nudity does not really exist among the pheasants; all 
those species whose temples are not covered with feathers, 
have them clad with a thick skin capable of an extension, 
which takes place at the season of love, or when the bird is 
agitated : this skin is covered with minute bristles, forming 
a very close tissue, resembling velvet; these little feathers, 
of a peculiar nature, are tinted with the most beautiful red, 
or are more or less pale, according as the bird is in a state 
of excitement or of calm. They are particularly liable to 
discolouration after death; which makes me believe that 
their loose filaments are of an entirely different nature to 
j the wehs of feathers, and that they rather are fine trans¬ 
parent membranes info which the blood is injected, causing 
the brilliant tint with which they are seen to glow, especially 
at the season of their amours. 
“ The male of the silver pheasant has its cheeks covered 
with a tissue such as we have just been describing; the 
membrane is capable of extension ; it is continued over the 
eyes in the form of a comb, and is pendent on each side 
along the lower mandible of the hill; the head is adorned 
with a long crest of loose feathers drooping behind, of a 
purplish-black: black stripes of extreme delicacy traverse 
the plumage obliquely from the top of the neck and the 
upper parts of the body, on a ground of dazzling white; 
this latter colour contrasts very agreeably with the purple- 
black with which the front of the neck, and the lower part 
of the body are covered ; the wings and the tail are white, 
and striped like the upper plumage, except the two middle 
feathers of the tail, on which there are no black stripes ; 
the iris is reddish-yellow; the beak is yellowish, inclining to 
brown at the point; the feet are of a beautiful lake red, and 
the long, and very sharp spurs are white. 
“ The trachea of the female silver pheasant is straight in 
its whole length ; it does not contract towards the inferior 
larynx, as in the cocks; the three half rings of the upper 
part of each bronchia, are separated by two broad mem¬ 
branous intervals; the first half ring is fixed by its ends to 
[ the osseous septum (la traverse osseusc), joined ( soudee ) 
before and behind to the last ring of the trachea. The 
upper larynx and the hyoid cartilages resemble the same 
parts in the cock. 
“ The female is invariably less than the male; she is still 
further distinguished by the colour and form of her tail, 
which is simply vaulted, and is without the two long feathers 
which, in the male, are bent into an arch; hi the female, 
these two feathers of the middle of the tail are straight, and 
repose upon the lateral feathers. The eyes are surrounded 
with a red tissue, but less extended than in the male ; on 
the top of the head are feathers of a dark brown, forming a 
sort of crest; the throat is whitish; the neck, breast, back, 
rump, wing coverts, and those above the tail, are of an earthy 
brown; the belly, the abdomen, and the lower tail coverts, j 
are of a dirty white mixed with brown, and cut by transverse 
black bands; the quill feathers are blackish ; the middle i 
feathers of the tail are of a brown approaching to carroty ; 
the laterals are striped obliquely with black on a white 
ground mixed and stained with brown ; the iris and the beak 
are yellowish brown; the feet lake red. 
“ The male silver pheasant is of a very warm tempera¬ 
ment ; he pairs from the end of April; when the female has 
sufficient liberty, she attends with much assiduity to the care 
of her brood; incubation lasts twenty-six days (this 1 have 
verified) ; the number of eggs varies from eight to fourteen, 
it rarely amounts to eighteen ; their colour is yellowish-red 
(roux), (much resembling that of the best-bred Cochin- 
Chinas), often inclining to whitish ; sometimes they have a 
few little brown specks. 
“ The silver pheasant inhabits the northern regions of the 
vast Chinese Empire ; it has been transported to almost all 
the countries of Europe, where, with the least possible care, 
it succeeds perfectly; it is much more easily tamed than the 
common pheasant, the ornament of our woods; its young 
are less difficult to rear than those of the golden pheasant; 
lastly, it is the hardiest of all the species of pheasants with 
which we are acquainted; it would even be suitable to stock 
our woods and parks, did not its plumage, of such dazzling 
whiteness as particularly to attract the searching glance of 
birds of prey, oiler an objection to our rearing it for that 
purpose." 
So far Temminck, whose description is here given for the 
first time, I believe, in an English form.—D. 
(To be continued.) 
YORKSHIRE ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
IMPROVEMENT OF DOMESTIC TOULTRY. 
Undoubtedly the best show of domestic poultry we have 
yet seen (excepting that only of the Midland Counties,) was 
held by the above Association in the Riding School, St. 
John’s Lane, Halifax, on the 13th and 14th of the present 
month, and which was fitted-up in a very convenient and 
suitable manner for the occasion. The number of pens 
entered for competition, as taken from the catalogue, was 
328, exclusive of a very carefully-selected stock sent for sale 
by Mr. J. Bailey, of Mount-street, London, and Messrs. 
Baker & Co., of Chelsea, which greatly added to the in 
terest of the Show, and made up the number of pens to 
nearly 400. 
The stock exhibited was, upon the whole, of more than 
ordinary merit, and indicates with what care and attention 
the amateurs of Yorkshire and the adjoining counties have 
cultivated the different breeds of domestic fowl. Although 
the show was much better than its most sanguine promoters 
had anticipated, both as it regards the number of pens and 
the quality of the stock, yet it is to be regretted that many 
of the classes were both badly and scantily represented; 
this deficiency, we have no doubt, arose in a great measure 
from the want of a better classification in the prize list 
issued by the Association, and which we hope to see revised 
another year, so as to include the whole of the varieties of 
Hamburglis, Polands, Bantams, Ac.; as it is scarcely to be 
expected that fowl will be sent to compete in a class where 
but two prizes are offered, and in which there are several 
varieties to compete for them, as in the Polands,—a class 
in which but few specimens were exhibited, and those of 
very inferior quality, and which made but a shabby appear¬ 
ance beside those more favoured, but certainly not more 
beautiful or useful associates. 
The honorary secretary and committee have done much 
to establish a show of such magnitude and importance, and 
we feel assured they will at once see the necessity of cor¬ 
rectly classifying the prize list for another year, as upon 
