THE PHEASANT 49 



unlike those of the Grouse, are ensheathed in symmetrically disposed 

 horny plates, and are not feather-clad. In the second, these feet, in 

 the male at any rate, are armed with formidable spurs. Then the sides 

 of the head are ornamented by a large featherless patch of skin, 

 brilliant vermilion in colour, and covered by little fleshy papilte 

 forming a sort of velvet pile. In the Grouse tribe a similar patch 

 of skin surmounts the eye, while in the Partridge bare skin is 

 restricted to a small region around the eye, red in colour, but 

 devoid of the papillae. Finally the tail of the pheasant is of a 

 characteristic V-shape, differing conspicuously from that of the 

 Grouse family. 



Although some no doubt would have it otherwise, it is doubtful 

 whether the coloration of the pheasant has been in any way determined 

 by the bird's environment. And this view need not affect what has been 

 said in regard to the ptarmigan in this respect. Very well. Before 

 proceeding further it will be best, perhaps, to state that in this place 

 we propose to speak simply of " the pheasant " as though our coverts 

 were tenanted by a single pure species, for these pages are devoted to 

 an account of " British Birds," and it would therefore be foreign to the 

 purposes of this work to treat of species imported since the end of the 

 eighteenth century as though they were entitled to rank as members 

 of our avifauna, Nevertheless, it will be necessary to say something of 

 these birds in order that we may understand the process of transforma- 

 tion which has overtaken "the pheasant" as we know it to-day in 

 these islands. To begin with, then, the parent stock of the present 

 tenants of English coverts is, or was, "the old English pheasant," 

 Pliasianus colchicus, a bird which, whether indigenous to these islands 

 or introduced by the Romans, must be regarded as an undoubtedly 

 British bird. Pure-bred examples of this species are not now to be 

 met with in Great Britain, and must be sought for in Southern Turkey, 

 Greece, and Asia Minor as far east as Transcaucasia ; and it extends 

 northwards to the Volga. 



The precise date of the introduction of the Chinese ringed 



VOL. IV. G 



