Japanese Pheasant.
Phasianus versicolor, Vieill. Gal. des Ois., tom. ii. p. 23. pi. 205.— Temm. PI, Col. 486 & 493.—Gray and Mitch.
Gen. of B irds, vol. iii. p. 497, Phasianus, sp. 3.
— — Diardi, Temm. PI. Col. in T ex t to P. versicolor.
In writing the history of a species of Pheasant, which, if I mistake not, is hereafter destined to become an
object of interest and importance to the sporting communities both o f this island and o f the temperate
portions o f the continent of Europe, it will be well first to state the country of which it is a native, and the
probable date o f its discovery. Up to the present time then, 1857, we have no positive evidence that the
bird is found elsewhere than in the Island1 o f J a p an ; yet, from the information I have received from two
different sources, it would seem that it also occurs in China. Professor Brandt, the celebrated naturalist
of St. Petersburg, when in England a few months since, informed me that a similar Pheasant
was certainly known to Pallas, who, as every one is aware, extended his travels to the confines o f China ;.
but I have never met with any record of it in the writings o f that author ; the circumstance of its being
known to him must rest, therefore, on Professor Brandt’s testimony. On showing a Japanese specimen to
Mr. Webb, a gentleman who has long resided in China, he informed me that, to the best of his belief,
it was a native of that country, and- was quite certain that he had seen two kinds there—one having a
white collar, the Phasianus torquatus ; the other without such a distinguishing mark : if this ringless bird
should prove to be a species at present unknown, I hope ere long to have the pleasure of giving a figure
of it in the present work.
I t would seem that when that Nestor of ornithologists, M. Temminck, published' hfs “ Histoire naturelle
générale des Pigeons e t des Gallinacés in 1813, this bird was not known, as no account of it is to be
found therein ; figures of both sexes, however, were published in his subsequent and more valuable work,
the “ Planches Coloriées des Oiseaux,” from specimens sent direct from Japan to Holland by Dr. Siebold ;
but Vieillot appears to have been the first author who assigned it a specific appellation, taking his
description from an example in the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, to which in all probability it
had been sent either by Dr. Siebold or M’. Temminck, to whom in fact all the collections in Europe are
indebted for the specimens they contain o f this fine bird.
About the year V840 living examples were brought from Japan to Amsterdam, and o f'th ese a male and
à female were purchased- by the late Earl of Derby a t-a very high price; unfortunately the female died
before reaching the menagerie at Knowsley, leaving the Noble Earl- in possession of' the male only. No
other example having been brought to England, it is from this single male and a female o f'th e common
species that all the green Pheasants, now becoming so numerous in the British Islands, have sprung.
The produce of the first cross was of course a half-breed ; the old'male being placed again with these half-
breeds the result was a three-quarter race ; and-these breeding again with the old bird, the produce
became as nearly pure as possible.
On the dispersion of the late Earl of Derby’s living collection, the old cock and the purest portion
of his progeny were purchased by Prince Demidoff, and, with the exception o f a pair left with Mr. Thompson,
then superintendent of the Knowsley Menagerie, were sent to Italy. John Henry Gurney, Esq., of
Norwich, and other gentlemen, became the possessors of the less pure stock. Some o f Mr. Gurney’s
birds were turned out in the woods a t Easton, and all the eggs which were laid in his aviary were also
hatched in the preserves, thus giving rise to the Norfolk varieties.
Mr. Thompson’s birds annually producing numerous eggs, he has been enabled to distribute living
birds to various persons, both in this country and abroad. Although not without a taint o f foreign blood
in their veins, these birds and their offspring are so similar to examples killed in their native country that
they are not distinguishable.
The P . Colchicus, the P . torquatus, and the P . versicolor readily breed with each other, and, contrary to
the usual course of nature, the progeny of either two are capable of reproduction. The results which
have arisen from this introduction of fresh blood among our old stock of semi-domesticated Pheasants is
perfectly amazing ; producing, as it has done, an increase in size and flavour, and marvellously beautiful!
variations in the colouring of the plumage, the principal hues o f which correspond with those of that
species, the blood of which predominates.
In form, habits, and disposition, the P. versicolor assimilates more nearly to the Common Pheasant of our