A HYBRID PHEASANT.-Lord Stawell sent me, from the great lodge in the Holt, a curious bird for my inspection. It was found by the spaniels of one of his keepers in a coppice, and shot on the wing. The shape, air, and habit of the bird, and the scarlet ring round the eyes, agreed well with the appearance of a cock pheasant; but then the head and neck, and breast and belly, were of a glossy black and though it weighed three pounds three ounces and a half,* the weight of a large full-grown cock pheasant, yet there was no sign of any spurs on the legs, as is usual with all grown cock pheasants, who have long ones. The legs and feet were naked of feathers, and therefore it could be nothing of the grouse kind. In the tail were no long, bending feathers, such as cock pheasants usually have, and are characteristic of the sex. The tail was much shorter than the tail of a hen pheasant, and blunt and square at the end. The back, wing-feathers, and tail, were all of a pale russet, curiously streaked, somewhat like the upper parts of a hen partridge. I returned it with my verdict, that it was probably a spurious, or hybrid hen-bird, bred between a cock pheasant and some domestic fowl.† When I came to talk with the keeper who brought it, he told me that some pea-hens had been known last summer to haunt the coppices and coverts where this mule was found. Mr Elmer, of Farnham, the famous game painter, was employed to take an exact copy of this curious bird. N.B. It ought to be mentioned, that some good judges have imagined this bird to have been a stray grouse or blackcock; it is, however, to be observed, that Mr W. remarks, that its legs and feet were naked, whereas those of the grouse are feathered to the toes. farther off, but not out of the field: on this the dog returned to me, near the place the young ones lay concealed in the grass, which the old bird no sooner perceived, than she flew back again to us, settled just before the dog's nose again, and, by rolling and tumbling about, drew off his attention from her young, and thus preserved her brood a second time. I have also seen, when a kite has been hovering over a covey of young partridges, the old birds fly up at the bird of prey, screaming and fighting with all their might, to preserve their brood.-MARKWICK. *Hen pheasants usually weigh only two pounds ten ounces. + This curious lusus naturæ is now in the collection of the Earl of Egremont, at his seat at Petworth, and is allowed by naturalists to be a mule betwixt the black-cock and common pheasant.-ED. Mr Latham observes, that "pea-hens, after they have done laying, sometimes assume the plumage of the male bird," and has given a figure OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 293 LAND-RAIL. A man brought me a land-rail, or daker-hen, a bird so rare in this district, that we seldom see more than one or two in a season, and these only in autumn. This is deemed a bird of passage by all the writers; yet, from its formation, seems to be poorly qualified for migration; for its wings are short, and placed so forward, and out of the centre of gravity, that it flies in a very heavy and embarrassed manner, with its legs hanging down; and can hardly be sprung a second time, as it runs very fast, and seems to depend more on the swiftness of its feet than on its flying. of the male-feathered pea-hen now to be seen in the Leverian Museum; and M. Salerne remarks, that "the hen pheasant, when she has done laying and sitting, will get the plumage of the male." May not this hybrid pheasant, as Mr White calls it, be a bird of this kind? that is, an old hen pheasant, which had just begun to assume the plumage of the cock.-MARKWICK. We have already noticed this curious subject, in our note at page 93. The facts of the female bird assuming the plumage of the male, which have been recorded by authors, are the following: pea-hen, by Hunter; turkey, by Bechstein; common pheasant, by Hunter; golden pheasant, by Blumenbach; the domestic hen, by Aristotle, Tucker, and Butter; the partridge, by Montagu; the domestic pigeon, by Tiedmann; the bustard, by Tiedmann; American pelican, by Catesby; common wild duck, by Tiedmann. Some years ago, a female golden pheasant, in the possession of the Duke of Buccleugh, assumed the male plumage. Mr Falconer of Carlowrie, member of the Wernerian Society, knew a domestic duck assume the garb of the drake; and a nobleman in Devonshire had a female wild duck, which made a similar change. Lord Glenlee lately presented to the Edinburgh College Museum a pea-hen with the male attire. Dr Butter, who has bestowed much attention to this subject, comes to the three following conclusions: 1st, That in order to separate and distinguish the sexes, Nature has affixed certain external characters, proper to each. 2d, That in early life, the differences between the male and female are scarcely observable, but that at a certain period, the male assumes characteristic distinctions, denominated by Mr Hunter, " secondary properties," which the female then wants. 3d, That the female seldom makes an advance towards these secondary properties, until her powers of procreation are gone, when an inclination to resemble the masculine form takes place. And he considers, as this principle is common to all females, it is not a monstrous occurrence, as some authors have termed it. It is not generally known, that pheasants are beneficial to the farmer. This fact was fully proved in 1821, at Whitney Court, where Tomkins Day, Esq. shot a hen pheasant, that excited the notice of the sportsmen present, from the immense size of its craw, which, on being opened, was found to contain more than half a pint of that destructive insect, the wire worm.-ED. When we came to draw it, we found the entrails so soft and tender, that in appearance, they might have been dressed like the ropes of a woodcock. The craw, or crop, was small and lank, containing a mucus; the gizzard thick and strong, and filled with small shell snails, some whole, and many ground to pieces through the attrition which is occasioned by the muscular force and motion of that intestine. We saw no gravels among the food; perhaps the shell snails might perform the functions of gravels or pebbles, and might grind one another. Land-rails used to abound formerly, I remember, in the low, wet, bean fields of Christian Malford, in North Wilts, and in the meadows near Paradise Gardens, at Oxford, where I have often heard them cry, crex, crex. The bird mentioned above weighed seven ounces and a half, was fat and tender, and in flavour like the flesh of a woodcock. The liver was very large and delicate.* FOOD FOR THE RING-DOVE.- One of my neighbours shot a ring-dove on an evening as it was returning from feed and going to roost. When his wife had picked and drawn it, she found its craw stuffed with the most nice and tender tops of turnips. These she washed and boiled, and so sat down to a choice and delicate plate of greens, culled and provided in this extraordinary manner. Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when grain fails, can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. There is reason to suppose that they would not long be healthy without; for Land-rails are more plentiful with us than in the neighbourhood of Selborne. I have found four brace in an afternoon, and a friend of mise lately shot nine in two adjoining fields; but I never saw them in any other season than the autumn. That it is a bird of passage, there can be little doubt, though Mr White thinks it poorly qualified for migration, on account of the wings being short, and not placed in the exact centre of gravity: how that may be I cannot say, but I know that its heavy sluggish flight is not owing to its inability of flying faster, for I have seen it fly very swiftly; although in general its actions are sluggish. Its unwillingness to rise proceeds, I imagine, from its sluggish disposition, and its great timidity; for it will sometimes squat so close to the ground, as to suffer itself to be taken up by the hand, rather than rise; and yet it will at times run very fast. What Mr White remarks respecting the small shell snails found in its gizzard, confirms my opinion, that it frequents corn fields, seed clover, and brakes or fern, more for the sake of snails, slugs, and other insects which abound in such places, than for the grain or seeds, and that it is entirely an insectivorous bird.-MARKWICK. OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 295 turkeys, though corn-fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c. and poultry pick much grass; while geese live for months together on commons by grazing alone. Nought is useless made: On the barren heath The shepherd tends his flock, that daily crop HEN-HARRIER. A neighbouring gentleman sprung a pheasant in a wheat stubble, and shot at it; when, notwithstanding the report of the gun, it was immediately pursued by the blue hawk, known by the name of the hen-harrier, but escaped into some covert. He then sprung a second, and a third, in the same field, that got away in the same manner; the hawk hovering round him all the while that he was beating the field, conscious, no doubt, of the game that lurked in the stubble. Hence we may conclude, that this bird of prey was rendered very daring and bold by hunger, and that hawks cannot always seize their game when they please. We may farther observe, that they cannot pounce their quarry on the ground, where it might be able to make a stout resistance, since so large a fowl as a pheasant could not but be visible to the piercing eye of a hawk, when hovering over the field. Hence that propensity of cowring and squatting, till they are almost trod on, which, no doubt, was intended as a mode of security: though long rendered destructive to the whole race of gallina by the invention of nets and guns.† *That many graminivorous birds feed also on the herbage, or leaves of plants, there can be no doubt: partridges and larks frequently feed on the green leaves of turnips, which gives a peculiar flavour to their flesh, that is, to me, very palatable: the flavour, also, of wild ducks and geese, greatly depends on the nature of their food; and their flesh frequently contracts a rank, unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong marshy aquatic plants, as Lsuppose. That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome, and conducive to the health of birds, seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small.-MARKWICK. Of the great boldness and rapacity of birds of prey, when urged on by hunger, I have seen several instances; particularly, when shooting in the winter, in company with two friends, a woodcock flew across us, GREAT SPECKLED DIVER, OR LOON.- As one of my neighbours was traversing Wolmer Forest, from Bramshot across the moors, he found a large uncommon bird fluttering in the heath, but not wounded, which he brought home alive. On examination it proved to be colymbus glacialis, Linn. the great speckled diver, or loon, which is most excellently described in Willughby's Ornithology. Every part and proportion of this bird is so incomparably adapted to its mode of life, that in no instance do we see the wisdom of God in the creation to more advantage. The head closely pursued by a small hawk; we all three fired at the woodcock instead of the hawk, which, notwithstanding the report of three guns close by it, continued its pursuit of the woodcock, struck it down, and carried it off, as we afterwards discovered. At another time, when partridge-shooting with a friend, we saw a ring-tail hawk rise out of a pit with some large bird in its claws; though at a great distance, we both fired, and obliged it to drop its prey, which proved to be one of the partridges we were in pursuit of. And lastly, in an evening, I shot at, and plainly saw that I had wounded a partridge, but, it being late, was obliged to go home without finding it again. The next morning, I walked round my land without any gun; but a favourite old spaniel followed my heels. When I came near the field where I wounded the bird the evening before, I heard the partridges call, and they seemed to be much disturbed. On my approaching the bar-way, they all rose, some on my right and some on my left hand; and just before and over my head, I perceived (though indistinctly, from the extreme velocity of their motion) two birds fly directly against each other, when instantly, to my great astonishment, down dropped a partridge at my feet: the dog immediately seized it, and, on examination, I found the blood flow very fast from a fresh wound in the head, but there was some dry clotted blood on its wings and side; whence I concluded, that a hawk had singled out my wounded bird as the object of its prey, and had struck it down the instant that my approach had obliged the birds to rise on the wing; but the space between the hedges was so small, and the motion of the birds so instantaneous and quick, that I could not distinctly observe the operation.MARKWICK. |