THE WORLD'S BIRDS. 



43 



and Jungle-fowl are all Asiatic, except the Common 

 Pheasant, which classical legend represents as an 

 introduced bird in Europe, as it probably was. 

 The group of Partridges known as Francolins are 

 chiefly African, but a few Asiatic also. Only 

 Quails and Partridges occur in the Australian 

 region, and not even these in the Pacific islands. 

 Some of the South African Francolins are locally 

 called Pheasants. 



The ancestor of our many breeds of fowls is the 

 Red Jungle-fowl of India and further east {Gallns 

 gallus), a bird coloured like the " black-breasted 

 red " breeds ; the Peacock {Pavo cristatus) is prac- 

 tically indistinguishable from its Indian wild 

 ancestor, except when abnormally coloured, having 

 varied but little ; nor have the Turkey (Meleagris 

 gallopavo) of North America, or the Guinea-fowl 

 {N'umida meleagris) of West Africa^ altered much 

 except in colour. 



The Pheasant, commonly preserved as a game- 

 bird, was originally the West-Asiatic Phasianus 

 colchicus, but this has during the last century been 

 much modified by crossing with the ring-necked 

 Chinese form, P. torquatus ; and now other allied 

 species have been widely intermixed with it. 

 Pheasants of this type are now common, by intro- 

 duction, in North America and New Zealand ; 

 but, naturally. Pea-fowl, Pheasants of all kinds, 

 and Jungle-fowl are Asiatic birds. The Monauls 

 (Lophophoncs), notable for their comparatively 

 large bills and short tails and the resplendent 

 metallic plumage of the cocks, inhabit the moun- 

 tains of India and China, as do also, though at a 

 lower elevation in most cases, the equally short- 

 tailed but beautifully spotted Tragopans (Trago- 

 pan), the males of which have erectile fleshy 

 horns of blue and similarly extensible dewlaps, of 



