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to the false notion of her origin; but a glance at the Cock bird shows how nearly he is related to the Game Fowl; a closer inspection shows the affinity of both to the ordinary Malays.

"Pheasant Fowls," ""The Pheasant Breed," are terms which ought to be at once discarded, as being either erroneous or unmeaning, or rather, both. By these terms various people intend to indicate Golden Hamburghs, Silver Hamburghs, Polanders, and even Bantams,* besides the subject of the present section. An eminent London dealer being asked what breed of Poultry he would supply, if the "Pheasant Breed" were ordered, replied, that he did not know; for some gentlemen so called one sort, and some another. Indeed, the name is vernacularly applied to anything that bears the most distant resemblance to a Pheasant.

To pass slightingly over such a popular error would be wrong, because it involves the great question of the immutability of species. The result, then, of our inquiry is this; that hybrids between the Pheasant and the Fowl are, for the most part, absolutely sterile; that when they do breed, it is not with each other, but with the stock of one of their progenitors; and that the offspring of these either fail, or assimilate to one or other original type. No half-bred family is perpetuated; no new breed created by human or volucrine agency.

Some believers in the improvement effected by Pheasants in our Common Fowls put their trust entirely in the possibility of the fact, not in any evidence of what has actually occurred. "One man, who had some of the birds near a wood, indeed assured me that the breed was easily reared, and that they grew more and more like Pheasants every clutch; but I noticed he had Hens of other breeds going with his Pheasant-mules or hybrids, male and female, and he was not sufficiently intelligent to be

* In Moubray's work, 8th edition, a coloured engraving of Seabright's Spangled Bantam is entitled, "Bantam, or Pheasant Fowls."

fully depended on. Besides, though his Cock and some of the Hens were undoubtedly (?) true hybrids, yet, as he lived close by the wood side, it is most probable that, as in the former instance, the Cock Pheasant of the wood usurped the attentions of the whole sisterhood, thus accounting for the broods growing more like Pheasants every generation. The most successful breeder of them admitted that, after many trials (of paired hybrids) he had never brought up but two to be a'most Hens,' and that then they took the meghrims (staggers) and died." (Correspondent of the Agricultural Gazette, July 1st, 1848.) Such naturalists as these are clearly got into a wood, and likely to ramble about therein so long a time, that it is hopeless to endeavour to extricate them.

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Others say, "Consult some intelligent gamekeeper, and you will alter your opinions." Well; we are anxious only for the truth, and are ready to be convinced by any proved facts that a gamekeeper can produce. Accordingly, we have consulted M. Le Roi, gamekeeper to the King of France, not of the French, before the first revolution, when game was indeed preserved, and country gentlemen, almost as much as kings, when they visited the country, really could keep poachers in awe. He informs us of his "Man has tried to effect a violence with the Cock Pheasant, to make it breed with a foreign species; and the experiments have in some degree succeeded, though they required great care and attention.

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young Cock Pheasant was shut in a close place, where but a faint light glimmered through the roof: some young Pullets were selected, whose plumage resembled the most that of the Pheasant, and were put in a crib adjoining that of the Cock Pheasant, and separated from it only by a grate, of which the ribs were so close as to admit no more than the head and neck of these birds. The Cock Pheasant was thus accustomed to see these females, and even to live with them, because the food was thrown into the crib only. When they had grown familiar, both

the Cock and Hens were fed on heating aliments; and after they discovered an inclination to couple, the grate which parts them was removed. It sometimes happened that the Cock Pheasant, faithful to nature, and indignant at the insult offered him, abused the Hens, and even killed the first he met with; but if his rage did not subside, he was on the one hand mollified by touching his bill with a red-hot iron, and, on the other, stimulated by the application of proper fomentations." - Buffon's Natural History of Birds, vol. ii., p. 302. His note attached is," The Wild Pheasants never couple with the Hens which they meet; not but they sometimes make advances, only the Hens will never permit them to proceed. I owe this, among many other observations, to M. Le Roi, Lieutenant des Chasses at Versailles." A promising commencement of a new breed of Poultry !

But it might be objected that all this happened sixty or seventy years ago, and that the nature of Pheasants and Fowls has since been modified. We have therefore consulted another intelligent keeper, who knows as much about the subject as the best shot that ever handled a gun. On stating my opinion of the absurdity of the popular notions about the " Pheasant Fowls" to Mr. James Hunt, the experienced servant of the London Zoological Society, he replied, "You are quite right, sir; those who think differently have only to look at that," pointing to a miserable, really half-bred Pheasant, that was then walking before us.

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Nor does the experience of Mr. Hunt differ much from that recorded by his superiors. "Birds produced between the Pheasant and Common Fowl are of frequent occurThe Zoological Society have possessed several, which were for a time kept together, but showed no signs of breeding; they are considered, like other hybrids, to be unproductive among themselves, all being halfbred; but when paired with the true Pheasant or the Fowl, the case is different. The Zoological Society has

had exhibited at the evening meetings two instances of success in this sort of second cross. The first was in 1831; the second instance in 1836."-Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 317. Two cases only, and those in the second cross, ascertained during all the time that the Society has had extraordinary means at command, are exceptions so rare, as to confirm the rule that such mules are barren, and incapable of founding a family, and becoming the ancestors of a distinct race. And yet an evidently sincere writer declares,-" From what I have seen of the plumage of birds casually produced at the wood side (from crossing with Pheasants), I believe a judicious and scientific selection would lead to the production of very fine varieties, and that among others, the dark Pheasant-plumaged breed, both of Bantams, and com.. mon poultry, would reward the patient inquirer.”Agricultural Gazette, June 10, 1848. Patience may sometimes be its own reward; but it is a sad thing to get into a wood, if the German romancers are to be listened to.

The Pheasant-Malays are large, well-flavoured, good sitters, good layers, good mothers, and in many points an ornamental and desirable stock. Some hypercritical eyes might object to them as being a little too long in their make; but they have a healthy look of not being overbred, that would recommend them to those who rear for profit, as well as pleasure. The eggs vary in size, some very large in summer, smooth but not polished, sometimes tinged with light buff, balloon-shaped, and without the zone of irregularity. Six eggs in December 1847 weighed very nearly 12 oz. The Chickens when first hatched are all very much alike; yellow with a black mark all down the back. The Cock has a black tail, with black on the neck and wings, and a rose comb; frequently they have a large flat comb; in which case they are often condemned to the coop. But the taste of different breeders is, in this respect, rather capricious. I should myself give the preference to birds which had a moderate-sized

pendant comb, like those of the true Malays, as more typical.

I have been favoured with a communication from Mr. A. Whitaker, of Beckington, Somerset, whose observations on domesticated birds I know to be so accurate as to render him an authority. He says, " I do not feel quite certain as to the particular sort of birds indicated under the title of the Pheasant breed.' I have seen so many and such diverse sorts called Pheasant Fowls that I have long since ceased to attach any definite idea to the designation. I fully concur in all you say in contravention of the popular notion of the existence of a prolific hybrid between the Fowl and the Pheasant."

"I have for seven years had a breed of Fowls the progenitors of which were sold to me in Hungerford Market as Pheasant-Malays.' The Cocks are a largesized bird, of a dark-red colour, with a small comb; but the beauty of the breed is with the Hens, which are of a Pheasant colour in all parts of the body, with a velvety black neck. The shape of both male and female is good. The neck is long and (as we should say of a horse) high crested, giving them an appearance quite superior to other Fowl in that particular. The colour of the Hens varies from the warmth of the plumage of the Cock Pheasant to the colder hue of the Hen Pheasant, but as I have always bred from the high-coloured birds, I now have the better colour generally predominating. The legs are white, and also the skin. They are excellent birds on table, both as to quality, shape, and size. They have no resemblance to the Malay, except that the Cocks are rather high on the legs, the Hens being the reverse. The combs of the Hens are very small. The Hens never have a foul feather, but I have never seen a Cock which does not show some small mark of white on one of his tail-feathers. You will observe in the Hens of the Pheasant-Malay that the two longest tail-feathers are somewhat curved, which, when the bird is full-grown, and in full feather, materially improves the appearance. They do not arrive at their

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