The CHINESE RING-NECKED PHEASANT (_Phasianus torquatus_) is even more
beautiful than its congeners. In this elegant bird the head and part
of the throat are green; a line over the eyes and a collar about the
throat white; the feathers on the nape almost black near the shaft,
with broad yellow borders; and those on the mantle black at the base,
with alternate yellow and black streaks, each feather edged with bright
red. The long feathers on the rump and upper wing-covers are greenish
grey, marked and dotted with red; those on the belly purplish brown,
with conical black spots on the shafts, and those on the sides brownish
yellow, marked with large round dark spots on the shafts. The quills
are greyish brown, striped with greyish yellow, and secondaries reddish
grey; the tail-feathers are greenish yellow, streaked with black. The
eye is yellowish, the wattle on the cheek red, the beak light grey, and
the foot brownish yellow. The size of this species is about that of the
Common Pheasant. The hen resembles the female of the latter in her general
appearance, but is somewhat redder. China is the native land of this
beautiful species, which is there very abundant in wood-covered tracts.
"These birds," says Latham, "were first introduced into England under the
name of Barbary Pheasants, by the Duke of Northumberland, and many were
bred and turned out at large at Alnwick. Other noblemen and gentlemen
have done the same, and thus the breed has become numerous. Birds of this
species mix and breed with the Common Pheasant, and thus present much
variety in their plumage, some having a well-defined and others a narrow
and imperfect ring around the neck; the feathers of the flank, also,
do not present the pure colouring either of _P. torquatus_ or of _P.
Colchicus_."
Living specimens of this species have bred so abundantly in the gardens
of the Zoological Society that birds and eggs have been transmitted to
different parts of the country. The flight of the Chinese Ring-necked
Pheasant when started is both rapid and direct, and is often continued to
a considerable distance before the bird again enters the cover.
[Illustration: REEVES' PHEASANT (_Phasianus Reevesii_, or _P. veneratus_).]