GAME-BIRDS. 25 
Northern and Western China, is the giant of the genus, and remarkable 
for its enormously long tail, which in old males attains a length of 5 feet 
or even more. This grand game-bird has been introduced into various 
parts of Great Britain, but cannot be considered a success, for the males 
drive off the Common and Ring-necked Pheasant and do not interbreed 
freely with the females of either species. 
It is well known that the Pheasants found in the semi-domesticated 
state in this country are polygamous—that is to say, one male pairs 
with many females ; but there is good reason for believing that this 
habit has been acquired. All the evidence tends to show that in a 
really wild state the various species of Phasianus are monogamous, the 
cock bird remaining with the female during the period of incubation, 
and taking part in the duties of protecting and rearing the young. In 
this, as in other countries where Pheasants are reared for sport, the 
greater number of birds killed are cocks, and hence in the following 
spring there is generally a preponderance of females, which may account 
for the polygamous habits of introduced birds. 
The Barred-backed Pheasants (Calophasis), of which there are two 
species, are represented by Elliot’s Pheasant (C. ellioti) (105), a rare 
species from South-east China. The male is a particularly handsome 
bird, the white belly and bands across the wings contrasting with the 
fiery bronze-red of the rest of the plumage. 
The Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallichi) (196), of which only one 
species is known, is a crested form peculiar to the Himalaya and 
extending from Chamba to Central Nepal. 
The Kalij Pheasants (Genneus), of which the Silver Pheasant (107) 
is typical, include seven well-marked species and a number of inter- 
mediate forms. They are met with in the lower and middle wooded 
ranges of the Himalaya, Burma, South China, and Formosa. — 
Considerable interest attaches to this group on account of the inter- 
mediate links found between some of the Burmo-Chinese species. 
Of the Himalayan Kalij Pheasants exhibited the White-crested Kali) 
(108) is found from Hazara to Nepal, where the Nepal Kalij (109) takes 
its place; in Sikhim and Western Bhotan the Black-backed Kali (110) 
occurs ; while in Eastern Bhotan, Assam, and Northern Burma the 
Black-breasted Kalij (111) is the only species found. Though these 
four species touch in their ranges, so far as is known they never inter- 
grade with one another. On the other hand, the Black-bellied Kalij 
and Silver Pheasant from South China are connected by the complete 
chain of closely allied geographical forms. 
Swinhoe’s Kalij (112), from the Island of Formosa, is a somewhat 
distinct form, and the male, as will be seen, is the handsomest of all 
the Kalij Pheasants. 
[ Cases 
11, 12.] 
