PHASIANUS TORQUATUS, Temm.

Chinese Ring-necked Pheasant.

Phastanus torquatus, Temm. Pig. et Gall. tom. ii. p. 326 et tom. iii. p. 670.—Gray, List of Birds in Coll. Brit.
Mus. part iil. p. 23.—Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. iii. p. 497, Phasianus, sp. 2.—Blyth, Cat. of
Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 245.—Gray, Ill. Ind. Zool. pl.

i Albo-torquatus, Bonnat. Ency. Méth. Orn. part i. p. 184.

 

Cuina is the true and probably the restricted habitat of this beautiful species of Pheasant; for although
various writers have stated that it is a native of India, we have no reliable evidence of its existing in a state

of nature in any part of that great country.

Of the mtroduction of living examples into England, numerous instances are on record. Latham, in his
‘General History of Birds,” states that it is said to have been “ first introduced by the late Duke of
Northumberland, and many were bred and turned out at his Grace’s seat at Alnwick. Lord Carnarvon did
the same at Highclere, in Berkshire, and the late Duchess Dowager of Portland at Bulstrode, Bucks.” More
recently it has been introduced upon the estates of other noblemen and gentlemen, and I am told is now very

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numerous on that of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington. The consequence of this introduction has been
a cross between the Chinese bird and its near ally the Common Pheasant (Phastanus Colchicus), producing
the variety or varieties known by the name of Ringnecks, and now so commonly killed in our woods. Asa
matter of course, these hybrid birds do not closely accord in their markings with either of the true breeds ;
nor do they form a permanent variety ; no two, in fact, even from the same district, exhibiting precisely the
same character; some specimens having their necks adorned with a well-defined ring, while in others it is
narrow and imperfect; the flank-feathers too assume an intermediate tint, and never present the pure
pale buff colouring of those feathers in the P. torguatus, or the dark colouring of P. Colchicus. These
details, though apparently trivial, may not be regarded as unimportant when we take into consideration the
interest so generally evinced with respect to these varieties of the Pheasant; and the fact, that by the
mingling of the two species a prolific offspring has been produced ;—a circumstance, however, which must be
regarded as an exception to the general rule, for I believe that in few instances and with few forms would
such a result occur.

Some six or seven years ago, living examples of this species direct from China were added to the
menagerie of the Zoological Society of London, where they bred in such abundance as to admit of a distri-
bution of eggs and individuals to the owners of estates in various parts of England. In some situations they
readily crossed with the ordinary Pheasant, the produce being birds similar to the Ringnecks of the English
preserves.

Long prior to any recorded instance of the introduction of the P. ¢orguatus into England, a few pairs were
landed at St. Helena, where, the vegetation being congenial to the habits and economy of the bird, they throve
amazingly, and in certain parts of the island they soon became and are even now very numerous. From an
examination of the skins kindly forwarded to me by Lady Ross, the drawings of Major Stack, and a fine
living male sent direct from the island, and now living in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, I find that
these birds do not differ from Chinese examples, except in being rather larger in size and in having a more
lengthened tail, which may probably be due to the abundance of berries they obtain from a kind of bramble
common on the island: no trace or taint of the P. Colchicus being observable, it would seem that China
alone has furnished the pheasants now so numerous at St. Helena. I am also ed to the kindness of
Lady Ross for the following extracts from “ Brooks's History of St. Helena,” respecting the introduction
of the Pheasant into the island :—

“Tn 1513, Fernandez Lopez was left in exile with a few negroes at St. Helena, as a punishment (after
being maimed) for deserting from the army of Alphonso Albuquerque at Goa, in India. These miei the
first inhabitants of theisland. Roots and vegetables of various kinds, fruit-trees and poultry were accordingly
landed for them, and partridges, pheasants, guinea-fowl, Pemeoeks and other birds let loose. Under he
fostering care of Lopez they increased abundantly, and in a few years overspread the face of the country.
Captain Cavendish, who visited the island on the Sth of June 1588, found “no less plenty of pheasants,

 

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