PHEASANT. 345 



Order GALLIFORMES. 



Family PHASIANID.E. Pheasants and Partridges. 



Ground birds, with short, rounded wings ; bill short and 

 stout, toes four. 



Pheasant. Fhasiajms colchicus Linn. 



Only as a long-established alien can the Pheasant (Plate 152) 

 be admitted as a British bird, though the date of introduction 

 is unknown ; it is first mentioned in 1059. More recently 

 various pheasants have been introduced, and have interbred 

 with the older stock ; it is impossible to meet with a pure 

 descendant of the original P. colchicus, though some of the 

 characters survive. The Chinese P. torquatus, first introduced 

 about two hundred years ago, has also left its mark, notably 

 in the white neck ring, but as the blood of five or six other 

 species may be intermingled, we can only look upon the semi- 

 domestic Pheasant of to-day as a mongrel. Crosses with more 

 distantly related birds take place occasionally, even with Black 

 Grouse and various breeds of domestic fowl. P. colchicus hails 

 from the Black Sea area of western Asia, but many closely 

 allied forms occur in other parts; the Romans, Phoenicians, 

 or whoever first traded the bird on sporting Britain, may have 

 brought different races. The two types, colchicus and torquaius^ 

 are figured. 



Any description of the appearance or plumage of the Pheasant 

 is unnecessary ; the pictures, or the poulterer's shop, will 

 supply details ; every one knows that the cock is the smarter, 

 the hen the browner, shorter-tailed bird. The male has 

 erectile ear-tufts and a featherless red face ; it is a gorgeous 

 bird, but would it be here at all were it not almost sacred? 

 The habits of this carefully tended bird have, undoubtedly, 



