232 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Other groups. No attempt will be made here, since so few of the genera 

 have any relation to the scope of the present work. It may, however, 

 be of interest to define, roughly, the major groups into which the family 

 may, for convenience, be divided, although some of these, at least, may be 

 purely artificial groups : 



(1) Phasiaiiiiiae (the true pheasants). These exquisite game birds 

 are characterized by a vaulted-'^ and greatly elongated and graduated 

 tail, the adult males being brilliant, more or less metallic colors, softened 

 and relieved by other hues in elegant pattern. The typical genus is 

 Phasianus (whence the English name pheasant and French faisan), of 

 which the so-called English pheasant {P. coJchicus) is a more or less 

 familiar example ; but the group includes besides several other genera, as 

 Chrysolophns, including the golden pheasant (C. pictiis) and I>ad} Am- 

 herst pheasant (C anihcrstiac) ; Gcnuaeus, represented by the silver 

 pheasant {G. nycthcnicrus) and more than half a dozen other species. 

 The subfamily Phasianinae may be divided into several subgroups : 



(a) Gallinae (the junglefowls). This group is composed of several 

 species of the genus G alius, from one or more of which, but chiefly from 

 one {G. ferruginetis), have been derived, by artificial selection, all the 

 varieties or "breeds" of our domestic fowls. They differ from the pheas- 

 ants in having the tail mo^e arched (or sickle-shaped) and in the 

 possession of a fleshy "comb" and wattles. The common or Bankiva 

 junglefowl (G. ferruginetis) is very similar to the ordinary red gamecock 

 and is undoubtedly the wild stock from which the latter and related 

 domestic breeds have been derived. It is a native of parts of India, Burma, 

 Assam, and the Malay countries, though to what extent its original range 

 has been extended by artificial means cannot now be ascertained. 



(b) LoPHOPHOREAE (the Impeyan pheasants, or monals, and the trago- 

 pans, or horned pheasants). This group comprises the genera Pucrasia 

 (Pucrus or Koklass pheasants), Ceriorms (tragopans), and Lophophorus 

 (Impeyan pheasants, or monals). They are heavy -bodied birds, with 

 comparatively short, rounded or slightly cuneate tails, all the feathers 

 of which lie in the same plane, like those of the various kinds of grouse 

 and most other birds, instead of being vaulted as in the true pheasants 

 and junglefowl. The tragopans have fleshy wattles, hornlike protuber- 

 ances, or other appendages about the head, and their plumage is character- 

 ized by variety and beauty of pattern, rather than brilliancy of colors. 

 There are about five species, found in the mountainous parts of India 

 and China. The monals, or Impeyan pheasants, are birds of about the 

 same size and general form as the tragopans (the males weighing about 

 4^4 to 5 pounds). They have no wattles or other fleshy appendages about 



''A-shaped in transverse section. 



