PHASIANUS. PHEASANT. 113 



The genus Phasianus is composed of birds of rather large 

 size, which inhabit the warmer and temperate parts of Asia, 

 and portions of Africa. They reside in woods and thickets, 

 seeking their food chiefly on the ground, reposing either there 

 or on trees, and nestHng among the herbage. Their food con- 

 sists of seeds of various kinds, and vegetable substances in 

 general, as well as occasionally larvag and insects. It is first 

 deposited in the crop, then pounded in the gizzard, reduced to 

 a pulpy state in the duodenum, and partially deprived of its 

 nutritious parts in the small intestine, which is of moderate 

 length. The finer parts of the residue enter the coeca, and are 

 further acted upon there, while the refuse passes into the cylin- 

 drical rectum in a concrete form, and is voided in a small 

 heap. 



