PHASIANID^ : PHEASANTS. 



575 



which the trachea is convoluted in an appendage to the furculuin ; Acryllium vultitrina, Agelas- 

 tes mekagrides, and Phasidus niger, are the remaining ones. 



The Phasianidce, or Pheasants, are a inagniticent family of typical Galling, of which the 

 domestic fowl is a characteristic example. The feet, nasal fossfe, and usually a part, if not the 

 whole, of the head, are naked, and often combed, horned, or wattled. The tarsi commonly 

 develop spurs. The tail, with or without its coverts, sometimes has an extraordinary develop- 

 ment or a remarkable shape (p. 118). There are fifty or sixty species, distributed in numerous 

 modern genera, about 

 twelve of which are 

 well marked ; they 

 are all indigenous to 

 Asia and neighbor- 

 ing islands, focusing 

 in India. In the 

 Peacock, Pavo cris- 

 tatus, the tail-coverts 

 form a superb train, 

 capable of erection 

 into a disk, the most 

 gorgeous object in 

 ornithology ; in an 

 allied genus, Poly- 

 plectron, there are a 

 pair of spurs on each 

 leg. The Argus 

 Pheasant, Argusa- 

 nus giganteus, is dis- 

 tinguished by the 

 enormous develop- 

 ment of the secon- 

 dary quills, as well 

 as by the length of 

 the tail-feathers and 

 peculiarity of the 

 middle pair. The 

 combed, wattled, and 

 spurred barn - yard 

 fowl, with folded tail 

 and flowing middle 

 feathers, are descend- 

 ants of Gallus bank- 

 iva, type of a small 



genus. The Tragopans, Ceriornis, are an allied form with few species; the Macartneys, 

 Euplocomm, with a dozen species, are another near form, as are the Impeyans, Lophophorm, 

 with a slender aigrette on the head, like a peacock's. The naturalized English j)heasant, P. 

 colchicus (fig. 394), introduced into Britain prior to A. D. 1056, is the type of Phasianus, in 

 which the tail-feathers are very long and narrow ; in one species, P. reevesii, the tail is said 

 to attain a length of six feet. The Golden and Amherstian Phensants^Chrysolophus pictus and 

 C. amherstice, are singularly beautiful, even for this group. The other genera are Crossoptilon 

 and Puerasia. 



5^ 



Fig. 395. — Turkey. ( From Lewis. ) 



