PHASIANUS COLCHICUS, Linn.
Common Pheasant.

Phasianus colchicus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 271.

 

In accordance with the expressed wishes of a great number of the subscribers to the present work, I here
give a figure and description of the Common Pheasant. For my own part I consider it as much out of place
in the ‘Birds of Great Britain’ as it would be to include therein similar delineations of the Peacock, the
Turkey, and several other birds which have at various periods been introduced, and, favoured with fostering
care, have lived and thriven among us; my opinion, however, has been met with the argument that, from
the great number of years which have elapsed since its introduction, and the fact that it has become partially
wild in our woods, it should form an exception. The true habitat of the Common Pheasant is doubtless
Asia Minor and the western portion of Asia, whence in all probability the first living examples were brought
to our islands ; but even this is doubtful, since the bird bas for many ages been known to be an inhabitant
of Turkey, Bulgaria, and other parts of eastern Europe, and it is just as probable that our birds came
thence.

Daniell, in bis ‘ Rural Sports,’ says Pheasants were brought into Europe by the Argonauts 1250 years
before the Christian era, and are at present found in a state of nature in nearly the whole of the Old
Continent.

“It may surprise the sportsman to read that this bird, which be finds wild in forests which can scarcely be
said to have an owner, was brought from the banks of the Phasis, a river in Colchis, in Asia Minor, and
artificially propagated with us and in other parts of the globe. History assigns to Jason the honour of having
brought this bird, on his celebrated expedition, from the banks of the Phasis ; and hence the modifications of
the word, viz. Phasianus in Latin, Pheasant in our own language, Faisan in French, and Fagiano in Italian.
The ancient Colchis, from which the specific name is derived, is the Mingrelia of the present day ; and there,
it is said, this splendid bird is still to be found wild and unequalled in beauty. The price Pheasants bore,
according to Echard’s ‘ History of England,’ a. p. 1299 (being the 27th of the reign of Edward the First),
was fourpence. At the same period the value of a Mallard was three halfpence, a Plover one penny, and a
couple of Woodcocks three halfpence.”—Yarruxt’s British Birds, vol. ii. p. 278.

In those good old times the Pheasants which roamed about the woods and coppices of the British Islands
were pure in blood, and adorned with all the pristine colours and markings of a true species ; now, however,
owing to the introduction of other kinds, and the crossings that have taken place, our country is tenanted
by a set of mongrels, each individual, or at least by far the greatest portion of our stock, exhibiting an
indefinite kind of coloration, so that scientifically there really is no interest in this bird as regards Britain ;
and in a utilitarian point of view, much harm has, in my opinion, accrued by the introduction of foreign
blood into the veins of our own old stock,—not that I for a moment deprecate the infusion of new blood when
it can be obtained from a distance and from individuals of the same species; for every breeder and physio-
logist is aware that the result would be a beneficial one. The introduction, however, of the Chinese
Phasianus torquatus and the Japanese P. versicolor has plainly shown this in a certain way only. The first
hybrids from either of these two birds with our own true P. colchicus are often wonderfully fine birds,
generally, if not always, much larger in size, of far greater weight, and adorned with a plumage the colouring
of which is often more beautiful than that of either of their parents. Nature, however, does not favour
such liberties ; for, interesting as they may seem in the eyes of an ordinary observer, the inutility of such
unnatural proceedings is at once rendered manifest by the infertility, or partial infertility, of these larger and
variously coloured individuals. No other result could in fact be expected, since every thinking person must
at once perceive they are nothing more or less than true mules—or if not mules, that they would seldom or
never breed exter se ; and they are in fact shy of breeding with either of the parent species to which they are
most nearly allied. Now these results having been certified by hundreds of experiments, it must be evident
to our landed proprietors, sportsmen, and keepers that no beneficial effect has been brought about by mixing
two or three species of Pheasant in the same covert, or even the crosses from any two of them. In making
this somewhat sweeping statement I must, however, add that from what I have myself personally seen, and
the information that has reached me on the subject, Ido not positively affirm that hybrids are in all instances
non-prolific, but that much uncertainty prevails on the matter. Some clutches of eggs may turn out pretty
well, others be half addled ; and the young that burst the shell often grow up a rickety and weakly stock.