[COR EraII ChI CatB] Phasianus Celestiales and other Curious Birds

[Bregir]

To the Royal Society of Natural Philosophy,

Upon venturing into the jungle of Celestia with Dr. Albert Brickingstone and the rest of the expedition, we chanced upon a number of curious birds. Curious in both their appearance and their behaviour. The avians of Celestia appear unimpeded by fear of people, and we were able to approach them quite closely. In fact, had we not, I feel confident they would have approached us out of sheer curiousity!

The most fascinating by far is a large bird clearly related to the common pheasant of northern Halos, much priced by hunters and palatial estates for its royal appearance, particularly the long tail of elaborately coloured feathers. However, the Celestian Pheasant (Phasianus Celestiales) differs in two, perhaps three important aspects.

First, its colours are much brighter. Just like the common pheasant, the male bird is much more elaborately coloured, with orange cover feathers for its wings and chest, a red beak, and a dark red plume upon its head. Its wings also appear to be must larger than those of the hen, which is less extravagant in colour, being tan apart from an orange plume and long bright orange tail-feathers, shared with the male.

Second, it appears to eat fish, apparently catching them in the streams, ponds and rivers of inland Celestia, something setting it very much apart from the common pheasant of Halos. This observation, as well as general behaviour of the birds, have led me to conclude a third possible difference: That contrary to the common pheasant, the Celestiales is of much higher intelligence. This must be determined through further study, which should prove simple, as the pheasant is found in great numbers across the island.

I will also add that the bird seems to be nesting on the ground, laying large bright azure eggs, and that the male bird cares for the hen during the incubation period, bringing her fresh fish. Further study will reveal whether this continues after the eggs have hatched and whether the pheasants are monogamous.

Your Humble Servant

Sir Anton Hughes

PS. Please find enclosed a few sketches of the Phasianus Celestiales and a few other birds encountered on the island.

Phasianus Celestiales:

Here shown at its nest, the azure eggs clearly visible, as is the colour and size differences between the male and female bird.

Non-descript, fan-tailed songbird:

This bird followed the expedition throughout the day, its melodious, although insistent, song tirelessly filling our ears with music.

Unknown sparrow:

A small non-descript sparrow, found in large numbers throughout the island.

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Unfortunately, I was not able to get more than one Cat. B. entry built, but I enjoyed putting together these little birds. C&C welcome.

[Elostirion]

What a neat little MOC, and those brickbuilt birds are superb!

[Darnok]

The scenic build is solid, but I absolutely love the bird builds - all of them. The differentiation between male/female examples of Phasianus Celestiales is excellent, the use of fan and feathers for the songbird is clever, and those sparrows are cute - and only five pieces per bird! Well done!

[Garmadon]

Great job with those birds, Bregir, all of them are quite nice, but I think the little sparrows would be my favorites - such a great little design!  The vegetation and flowers are well done too, and those blue eggs are epic