182 PHEASANT. 
to run about with her, and when half grown begin to roost 
on the same tree. It would appear that two hens will 
sometimes lay in one and the same nest, and also that that 
of the Partridge will occasionally be made use of, even if it 
already contain eggs, the Pheasant expelling their proper 
owner, and hatching them with her own, and bringing up 
the young. The eggs are subject to considerable malformation. 
Mr. Hewitson mentions one sent to him by the Hon. Mrs. 
Liddel, which was of a cylindrical shape. 
Male; weight, very variable—from two pounds and a half 
to three pounds, and even, in some instances, over four 
pounds; length, two feet ten inches to two feet eleven. 
Bill, whitish or pale yellowish, or pale greenish horn-colour, 
the base rather darker. The eye is surrounded by a bare 
skin of a bright scarlet colour, minutely speckled with bluish 
black: in parts it approaches deep red, and in some seasons, 
crimson. Iris, pale yellowish orange, with a tinge of brown, 
the eyelids flesh-coloured: over the ear is a small tuft of 
dark golden-green feathers, set out in the spring. Head on 
the crown, deep brownish green, with yellowish marginal 
edgings, the feathers rather elongated and silky; neck behind, 
deep green, and on the sides and in front, greenish blue 
aad purple blue, alternately reflecting burnished shades of 
green, purple, and brown, in different lights. Throat and 
breast above, dark golden red, each feather margined with 
glossy black and reflecting tints of gold and purple; lower 
duwn, brownish black glossed with green, the margins of the 
feathers being of the latter colour, and in young birds 
tinged with reddish. Back, on the upper part dark orange 
red, within which is a yellowish white band, the feathers 
margined with velvet black, and with a central oblong spot 
of the same; lower down dark orange red, the centre of each 
feather dark, with an outer band of pale yellow, with spots 
of light blue and purple, then light brownish red, the feathers 
elongated, with loose filaments. 
The wings, rounded in form, and of twenty-four quills, 
expand to the width of two feet eight imches; the third 
and fourth quills are the longest, the first equal to the 
seventh: underneath, the wings are yellowish green. Greater 
and lesser wing coverts, red of two shades, the inner 
dark, the outer yellowish grey, variegated with dusky and 
whitish; primaries, dull greyish brown, varied with pale 
greyish yellow; secondaries, broad, rounded, and a little 
