PIIA SI A N1D.E — PIIA SI A NINjE : PIIEA SA NTS. 7 23 



lappets, dewlaps, etc. ; some of these caruncular formations are of fixed size and shape; others 

 are of a soft erectile tissue, which varies in dimensions with sexual excitement; in some cases 

 there is a special bony support of such protuberance. The head is often crested with feathers 

 of ordinary character, or again of special shape or texture. The tarsi commonly develop spurs, 

 especially in the $, sometimes also in the 9; these spurs are as a rule one on each foot, but 

 may be two, three, or more. The feet are never feathered below the suflfraco, ex('ei)tiiig in 

 some artificial varieties of the Domestic Cock. The claws are always fairly developed (that 

 of the hallux is sometimes rudimentary or defective in Perdicidcc), and the most characteri.stic 

 lial)it of these birds, as of other Gallincc, is to scratch the ground for food ; they are thus 

 rasorial. The general plumage, though so often extremely brilliant, is rather dry and hard ; 

 the birds do not wasli in water, but take sand-baths; whence Pulveratores as a name of th(.-ir 

 order. The wings are of moderately variable sliape, only presenting an extraordinary figure 

 in tlic Argus Pheasants, whicli have the secondaries enormously elongated. Excepting in the 

 genus Phaminns itself, the 1st primary is short — shorter than the 10th ; and this seemingly 

 trivial character is pi'obably the most satisfactory one that can be found to separate the Fhasi- 

 armhe as a family from the Perdictdce (see beyond under bead of the latter family). The most 

 variable member in Phasianidce is the tail, which, taken either with or without its cctverts, 

 lias an extraordinary development in many of the genera. Thus, in the Peaccjck, Paro cris- 

 tatiis, the tail-coverts firm a superb train, capable of being erected and spread into a disc, the 

 most gorgeous object in ornithology ; in the Argus Pheasants the middle rectrices are ex- 

 tremely elongate; in the Reeves' Pheasant the length of the tail is very great. The com- 

 pressed or folded tail of domestic poultry is familiar, yet it is a rare formation, except in the 

 present family. The number of rectrices is more variable than in any other family of birds, 

 and even difiers in ojtposite sexes of some species. These feathers run from 12 to 20 in most 

 genera, but there are only 10 in Ophnjsia (if really belonging here), while in Lobiophasift there 

 are 28 9~'^~ S- ^" general the P/uisianid(e are polygamous ; the outward marks of sex are 

 strong, as a rule, the female lacking any extraordinary development of plumage, the spurs, 

 etc. ; but in some cases the sexes are (piite similar. 



Phusiunidce belong exclusively to the Old World, and are specially numerous and diversi- 

 fied in Asia; the number of si)ecies now known is nearly lOU, usually referred to about 45 

 genera. 



Subfamily PHASIANIN/E: Pheasants, 



including the Pea-fowl, the Domestic Cock, and all tlie birds to which the name Pheasant is 

 pro]ierly applicable. It is only of late years that the richness ot this group has been devel- 

 ()ped by the discovery of strange types in the interior tif Asia and elsewhere. The subfamily 

 has not hitherto figured in the Key; but more than one species of Phnsiauuft has of late been 

 introduced and naturalized in the United States; and in giving tliis genus :i place I may note 

 some of the leading types of the subfamily. At the head of the series, at least io size and 

 sliowiness, stands the Peacock, Pavo cristutus, native of India, now domesticated all over the 

 worhl. The true rectrices are only 20, the coverts forming the voluminous train of the ^. 

 P. mnticKs is the only other well-established species of I'avu. Argnsifniits is the genus of 

 Argus Pheasants of two or three .species from the Malay countries, etc., with the inordinately 

 long secondaries and middle tail-feathers of the (J, and much of the plumage eyed. Jihein- 

 hdrdtius occUatus of Toukiu s!i;ires the Innir tail of the last named, but not the exat:i:erated 

 .secondaries; in both, the rcctiiccs arc 12. The several species of I'oh/jilectnm, vviih-Iy dis- 

 tributed in the Orient, have two <ir three sjiurs ou each foot hi the <J, and ocellat'-d tail-feathers, 

 20-24 in number; P. cliinqnis und P. hiailmrntum are examples. The genus (VuilcKnis, of one 

 Sumatran species, is related to these, but lacks ocelli, Jind the tail is very lontr, as in ordinary 

 IMieasants. The genus <i,iUii< in.lnd.s the .lungh'-fowl, tVom wliich tlic familiar ctn-k and 



