There are 21 so-called species of the true pheasant. Of these, 17 are
only varieties, with practically no differences except in colour and
size. Naturalists are not consistent in their classifications. If the 17
pheasants that include the common and the ring-necked variety are
species, then all our fancy pigeons are species also, just as our
numberless varieties of dogs are. The pouter and the fantail pigeons
have more differences by far than any of these 17 kinds of pheasants,
and the St. Bernard and the Japanese spaniel and Italian greyhound would
all have been received as new species had their discoverers been
naturalists. Indeed, the St. Bernard has structural differences from the
others about which in any other class of animal naturalists would not
hesitate for a moment. They would make a species of him for his extra
toe—that is, for his double dew claw. But it does not in the least
matter whether differences are marked in the index to nature as species
or as varieties, since the former term has lost its original meaning,
and no longer suggests a specific act of creation in the origin of
things.
What matters is that the 17 varieties of pheasants are supposed to be
capable of breeding together fertile offspring, no matter how they are
mixed up.
But although crossing always increases size in the first few
generations, and notwithstanding that every first cross amongst these 17
varieties of pheasants has been glorified in description, it is not to
be expected that the cross breds maintain their glory in later
generations. Unfortunately, they do not revert to one type or the other,
but set up intermediate coloration.
There is no reason to suppose that the cock pheasant differs very much
from the hen in the pigments within the feathers. The difference we
observe is one of disposition of those pigments. In the hen the reds,
the greens, the gold and purples are mixed; in the cock they are
separated. In the 17 varieties of pheasants there are to be found cock
birds which at every point of the feathering have the complementary
colour to that which is in the same position in some other species. Even
the dark edging of the feathers is in some races green and in the others
purple. The backs are in some green, in others red; the breasts in some
species golden, and in others green. One cannot object to the
introduction of any of these 17 species so long as they are kept
distinct. But we do not want our pheasants to look as variegated as a
race of mongrels. The Mongolian pheasant is said to be more hardy than
our own cross bred, and in that case it would probably suit us better as
a bird of the coverts, but it drives away the other birds from the food,
which is a good reason as well as its white wing coverts for not wishing
to have it mixed with the home stock.
For some time it was believed that the Reeves pheasant would not produce
fertile offspring from any of the 17 sorts typical of the common
pheasant, but that is probably a mistake. Nevertheless, if it is true
that the hybrids breed in the third season, any such deferred
productiveness would not be likely to have the smallest effect on our
pheasant stock, and consequently the Reeves pheasant can safely be
turned out in the coverts without fear of changing the character of our
good sporting birds. The same is true of the copper pheasant, which, in
nature and Japan, exists side by side with the green-breasted
versicolor, and does not inter-breed with it. As the versicolor breeds
freely with our birds, and is but a variety in fact and only a species
by courtesy of naturalists to each other, it is pretty certain that this
copper pheasant, like the Reeves pheasant, can be safely turned loose in
our coverts. But the Reeves pheasant is a great runner, and it is said
that when he once does get started upon the wing he is apt not to
recognise the boundary fence, and may go 20 miles on end. If this is not
an exaggeration, and probably it is, the Reeves pheasant would be a most
objectionable bird. But in wild countries like Wales and Scotland, where
there are hills and hill coverts, there seems to be no doubt that the
Reeves would beat the English bird, not only in hardihood and
self-reproduction, but also in flying to the guns both faster and higher
than the common pheasant. It is a bird that prefers to run _up_ hill, in
contradistinction to the instinct of preservation that induces the type
race of bird to run _down_ hill. The Hon. Walter Rothschild has spent
more time and money on the pheasant family than anyone else, and
probably he is the very best judge of what would acclimatise with
advantage and what would not. With the reservation, then, that the
author does not believe in still further mongrelising the half bred of
our coverts, it is proposed to summarise Mr. Rothschild’s opinion.
The pheasants form but one section of the family Phasianidæ, the second
of the four families of the Gallinæ. The limitations of natural history
are set forth by Mr. Rothschild when he says that structurally it is
impossible to separate the partridges and the pheasants, and that the
spurfowls (_Galloperdix_) and the bamboo partridges (_Bambusicola_) form
connecting links. How true this is may be gathered from the fact that
Mr. Harting described a bamboo partridge in the _Field_ recently as a
cross between a pheasant and partridge. These birds have spurs, but then
the author has seen a common partridge with spurs on both legs. The legs
were sent to _Country Life_ at the time, and the spurs upon them were
sharp like a two-year-old pheasant’s. Of the pheasants there are 60
species according to naturalists, divided into 12 genera. Of these,
_Phasianus_ with 21 species is the largest, and the only one which
concerns sportsmen in this country. There are 17 of the varieties of the
type pheasant, including the new species called after Mr. Hagenbach.
There are 11 other birds called pheasants which properly belong to the
peafowl. These include 7 peacock pheasants and 4 Argus pheasants, which,
like many others amongst the 60 pheasants, do not fly well, and have no
place in shooting. The true pheasants are distinguished by their long
wedge-shaped tails and by the absence of a crest, but these have to be
subdivided into the type birds that are really only varieties, and the
four that are really as well as nominally different species.
These four are _Phasianus ellioti_ and _Phasianus humiæ_, which are
useless for sport. Then the copper pheasant from Japan (_Phasianus
sœmmerringi_) Mr. Rothschild thinks eminently suited for the coverts. As
it is a native of the same ground as the versicolor pheasant, and
neither seems to damage the purity of the other, it may be accepted that
its production in our coverts would not degenerate into crossing with
the common pheasants. The other of these four species is _Ph. reevesii_,
or the Reeves pheasant from China, with its 6 feet of length and, on
rare occasions, 6 feet of tail. The worst that has ever been said of
these two last-named species is that they fight badly and might drive
away the other pheasants, but in the case of the copper pheasant the
observation was only the outcome of its behaviour in pens. Mr. Walter
Rothschild thinks this bird more suitable for mountainous cold districts
than the common pheasant is, and that it should be given the preference
in Wales and Scotland, as altogether a hardier bird than the true type
pheasant. In this opinion he agrees with the late Lord Lilford, who was
by far the best authority of his time. Mr. J. G. Millais wrote of this
bird from having shot it at Balmacaan, on Loch Ness, and at Guisichan,
near Beauly, in the same county. At the former, then the late Lord
Seafield’s place, he found the bird a fraud and a failure, as in the
open flat coverts it ran more than it flew, and when it was forced into
the element it can make all its own, it flew low and gave no sport. But
at Guisachan, Lord Tweedmouth’s place, Mr. Millais had cause to regard
the bird as the finest of all the game birds that raced to the guns over
the mountain pines. He described it as leaving the common pheasants and
the blackcocks flustering along behind at about half the pace of this
king of the air, or comet of the woods. Truly sportsmen cannot read Mr.
Millais’ account without envy. But, besides the speed, the way this bird
can stop itself is a revelation. It does this apparently by offering the
full surface of its tail, its body, and its wings simultaneously to air
resistance; and if Mr. Millais is correct as to its speed and the power
it has of stopping within a few feet, it is a wonder that it does not
break its feather shafts as well as itself by the sudden pressure.
Of the 17 type birds it may be said that a true line of colour
distinction cannot be drawn, and that their markings run one into the
other as they are found East or West and North and South. It is well to
regard these two tendencies as different geographic variations, and
because the birds seem to have latitude variations in common whatever
their longitude may be, and longitudinal variations in common whatever
their latitude may be, to hold them all one species with local colour
variations and nothing more. In the West the pheasant tends to redness,
in the East to greenness, both of back and breast. The extremes are
observed in the old English pheasant and the versicolor of Japan. This
gradation of colour from East to West is not altered by latitude. But of
whatever shade and longitude the birds may be, if they are found in the
North they have a large quantity of white upon them, and if in the South
they have no white. It is therefore possible to settle the natural home
of the pheasant almost accurately by his coloration. The old English
pheasant is a native of most of Europe in our time; but the Romans
obtained it from Asia Minor, and it is named by ornithologists in
consequence _Phasianus colchicus_. In England there are now not any of
this breed; ours are all mongrels.
The Persian (_Ph. persicus_) is a near relation to _colchicus_, but has
very nearly white wing coverts, narrower bars on the tail, and is
dark-red on the sides of the belly. It inhabits West Persia and
Transcaspia, and Mr. Rothschild thinks it a good variety for
introduction, as it is hardy and flies fast and high.
A near relation is the Afghan pheasant (_Ph. principalis_), or Prince of
Wales pheasant. It only differs from the last-named variety in its
whiter wings, its maroon patch under the throat, the wide purple bars on
the flanks, and in the orange-red upper tail coverts. Mr. Rothschild
gives it a good character for importation, and those who have shot it at
home speak of it as almost aquatic in habit, and not only able but
willing to swim.
The Zorasthan pheasant, or _Phasianus zerasthanicus_, only differs
slightly in marking from the above-named variety—that is to say, it has
plain brown scapulars, and much narrower borders to the breast feathers.
The Yarkand pheasant, or _Ph. shawi_, differs from _colchicus_ in having
a yellowish-brown rump and whitish wing coverts. Mr. Rothschild
recommends its importation _viâ_ India for our English coverts.
The Siberian pheasant, or _Ph. tariminsis_, very closely resembles the
last-named variety, but differs in the greenish rump and the buff wing
coverts.
The Oxus pheasant, or _Ph. chrysomelas_, comes from Amu-Darya. It is
distinguished for its general sandy-brown colour and the very broad
green bars on all feathers of the under side of the body.
The Mongolian pheasant has been introduced largely by reason of Mr.
Rothschild’s recommendation. It is known from all the others by the rich
red of the flanks, the green gloss of the plumage, the very broad white
neck ring and white wings. It is a very large bird. There is one point
on which it is open to doubt whether this bird has not met more than its
meed of praise. It is considerably heavier than the common pheasant, and
is said to fly better. But the last statement is a little difficult to
accept, for the bird is not like the Reeves pheasant, different in
feathers, structure, and proportion of wing to weight. It is merely a
very big common pheasant differently coloured and having everything in
true proportion. It ought therefore, by reason of its weight, to fly
worse than lighter birds. For big birds to fly as fast as small ones
they require not only the same proportionate wing power and space, but
greater.
Stone’s pheasant, or _Ph. elegans_, is almost a green bird, like
versicolor, except upon the flanks and shoulders. It is not well known.
The pheasant of Tibet, or _Ph. vlangalii_, is pale sandy on the upper
parts, and has golden-buff flanks.
Perjvalsky’s pheasant, or _Ph. strauchi_, differs from Stone’s pheasant
by its orange-red flanks instead of the dark-green and the dark-red
scapulars with light buff centres. It is recommended for introduction
without much hope of attainment. Its home is Gansu.
The West Chinese pheasant differs from the ring-necked Chinese bird by
the absence of a ring of white; its scientific name is _Ph. decollatus_.
The ring-necked pheasant, or _Ph. torquatus_, was introduced from China
to St. Helena about 1513 A.D. In England its first introduction is
unrecorded, but it exists here no longer in a pure state. It is
flourishing in New Zealand, and also in America. In some of the States,
including Oregon, it has bred so largely as to be a positive nuisance to
agriculture.
Two more pheasants, only slightly differing from the ring-necked bird of
China, are _Ph. formosanus_ and _Ph. satchennensis_.
The Japanese pheasant, or _Ph. versicolor_, is a beautiful bird with a
dark-green breast. It was introduced by Lord Derby in 1840, and although
the early crosses were no doubt large and beautiful, in the natural
course of things, when colours came to blend, as they do not at first, a
mongrel coloration would have been certain had not the crossing been so
limited as to make no difference.
Of these 17 true type pheasants it is usual only to take account of the
cocks. In the above not a word has been said of the equally important
hens, that are practically all alike, which is additional proof that
these are not species, and are only local varieties, breeding a little
less true to colour than the varieties of fancy pigeons and fancy fowls.
The golden pheasant is not of the same genus as those above, but is
closely allied to Lady Amherst’s pheasant. The former does not do for a
covert bird, because it kills the much bigger common pheasant. The
silver pheasant belongs to another genus, and also is barred from the
coverts in consequence of its greater superiority in fight than in
flight.