COMMON PHEASANT. ZQI 



First primary flight-feather about equal to the eigluh, and 

 considerably longer than the tenth. 



The male has the sides of the head covered with naked 

 scarlet skin ; there is no crest, but the ear-tufts are considerably 

 lengthened, and the feet are armed with a pair of spurs 

 {Grant). 



The genus Phasianus is almost entirely Pal?earctic in habitat, 

 and contains eighteen species, the stronghold of the genus 

 being Central Asia. 



I. THE COMMON PHEASANT.* PHASIANUS COLCHICUS. 



Phasianus colchicus^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 271 (1766); Macgill 

 Brit. B. i. p. 114 (1837); Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 85, pi. 

 469 (1879); B. O. U. List Brit. B. p. 141 (1883); 

 Saunders, ed, Yarrell's Brit. B. iii. p. 91 (1883) ; 

 Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 445 (1884); Saunders, Man. 

 Brit. B. p. 4S5 (1889) ; Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 

 320 (1893); Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxxiii. (1896). 



Adult Male. — Crown of the head bronze-green; rest of the 

 head and neck dark green, shading into purple on the sides 

 and front of the neck. Feathers of the mantle, chest, breast, 

 and flanks fiery orange, the former narrowly margined with 

 purplish-green, the latter widely edged with rich purple ; those 

 of the upper back and scapulars mottled in the middle with 

 black and buff, margined by consecutive bands of buff, black, 

 and orange-red, and tipped with purplish-lake. Lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts red maroon, glossed with purplish- 

 lake or oily green, according to the way the skin is held. 

 Most of the wing-coverts sandy-brown ; middle of breast and 

 sides of belly dark purplish-green ; middle of belly and rest of 

 under parts dark brown mixed with rufous. Tail-feathers 

 olive down the middle, with narrow, wide-set, black bars, and 

 widely edged on each side with rufous, glossed with purplish- 

 lake. Total length, 37-5 inches; wing, ici ; tail, 21-2; 

 tarsus, 2*8. 



Adult Female. — General colour sandy-brown, barred with 

 black; back and sides of the neck tinged with pinkish and 



* The account of this species is again copied from Mr. Ogilvie Grant's 

 volume (Allen's Nat. Libr. xii. p. 9). 



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