PHE.ASANT COLOURS.
A very large trade is now being done in pheasants' eggs, and even in day-old pheasant chicks ; and probably the game-farm pays a better return than the mixed farm. How precise and • specialistic a bus' iness pheasant-rearing has become may be inferred from the mere names of the classes of birds offered for sale. The following breeds are usually supplied to choice : Mongolians, Chinese, Old English Black- necks, Melanistic Mutants, Versicolors, Ringnecks. Each has its admirers. Some curious points in heredity emerge. Until recently there was no doubt that the Chinese variety, with the very distinct white ring round the neck, was proving dominant. It was more or less an event in many countries to discover a so-called Old English bird, endowed with no white ring on the neck and more darkly tinted all over. Now, some prophesy, our pheasants are becoming and will become darker and and blacker, thanks to popularity of the " Melan- istic Mutant" (so horribly called) and its potency. We
shall see. Versicolor is as popular as any. *• *
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