184 PHEASANT. 
white male and a female of the proper colour; their descendants 
in the following year were only white or pied, and the varieties" 
went on year after year. Doubtless in many cases the 
destruction of the old birds, signalled out for their very 
markings, is the reason of the non-production of other such; 
‘ex nihilo nihil fit.’ 
The Ring-necked specimens are rather lighter-plumaged than 
the Ringless. One variety, by no means uncommon, especially 
in the female, is entirely white, and even the bill and legs. 
One had a single coloured feather under the throat; another, 
one or two only on the shoulders; a hen bird in the cock’s 
plumage, even the white ring round the back and sides of the 
neck, is another. Individuals more or less mottled, patched, 
and speckled with white are by no means unfrequent. A 
variety called the Bohemian Pheasant is of a stone-colour, 
with the usual markings. Cream-coloured ones are also met 
with. One is mentioned by G. B. Clarke, Hsq., m ‘The 
Naturalist,’ volume i, page 182, which had a silvery appearance 
when the sun shone on it, and the tail was of a darker colour ~ 
chan isual: it was shot in Woburn Park. 
The hen bird sometimes partially assumes the plumage of 
the cock, and :n these cases says Yarrell, ‘they may be known 
by thew partial want of brilliancy of tint; the golden-red 
feathers on the breast generally want the contrast of the 
broad dark velvet-like margin; the legs and feet retaining their 
smaller and more slender female character, and are without 
spurs.’ 
Hybrids have occurred from alliances with the Common 
Fowl, the Black Grouse, the Turkey, the Guinea Fowi, the 
Golden Pheasant, and the Silver Pheasant. 
