THE STONE PHEASANTS. I99 



THE PHEASANTS, TURKEYS, AND GUINEA-FOWLS 

 (PHASIANIN^). 



The first flight-feather is considerably shorter than the 

 tentli,* the tail is shorter or longer (often much longer) than 

 the wing, and the sides of the head are feathered or entirely 

 naked. [If the first flight-feather is longer than the tenth, the 

 tail is always considerably longer than the wing.] 



The most typical form of Pheasant-wing is found in the 

 Argus Pheasant {Argusiafius argus), where the first flight- 

 feather is the shortest, and the tenth the longest. 



THE STONE PHEASANTS. GENUS PTILOPACHYS. 



Fiilopachus^ Swainson, Class. B. ii. p. 344 (1837). 



Type, P, fuscus (Vieill.). 



Tail composed oi fourteen feathers, rather long and rounded 

 and more than three-fifths of the length of the wing. 



First flight-feather somewhat shorter than the tenth; fifth 

 slighdy the longest. 



Feet without spurs in either sex. 



A large naked space behind the eye. Sexes similar in 

 plumage. 



Only one African species is known. 



I. THE AFRICAN STONE PHEASANT. PTILOrACHYS FUSCUS. 



Perdix fusca, Vieill. Tabl. Encycl. Meth. i. p. 366 (1823); id. 



Gal. des Ois. ii. p. 40, pi. ccxii. (1825) ; Jard. and Selby, 



lUustr. Orn. (new series), pi. xvi. (1837). 

 Perdix ventratis, Valenc. Diet. Sci. Nat. xxxviii. p. 435 (1825). 



* The genus Phasianus, including the typical Pheasants, forms an ex- 

 ception, the first flight-feather being about equal to the eighth; but the 

 length of the tail, which is always greater than that of the wing, at once 

 distinguishes it as one of the PhasiaJiini?, though, as already remarked on 

 p. 78, the distinction between this group and the Perdicinct is a purely 

 artificial one. 



