264 HltlTISH BIRDS 



A few specimens of the handsome and elegant passenger-pigeon 

 (Ectopistesmif/ratorius), a North American species, once excess! \ dy 

 abundant in that continent, but now nearly extinct, have been 

 obtained in this country. 



Pallas's sand-grouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus), a curious .-uid 

 handsome bird, related structurally to the pigeons, is also included in 

 works on British birds. Its home is the steppes of Central Asia, 

 but from time to time visitations of this species, sometimes in very 

 large numbers, have occurred in Europe, extending to the British 

 Islands. The last and largest visitation of this kind occurred in 

 1888. 



Pheasant. 

 Phasianus colchicus. 



Head and neck glossed with metallic reflections of green, blue, 

 and yellow; sides of head bare, scarlet, minutely spotted with 

 black ; plumage spotted and banded with red, purple, brown, yellow, 

 green, and black. Length, three feet. Female : light brown marked 

 with dusky ; sides of head feathered. 



The pheasant has had a remarkable and a very long history, 

 extending back into the period of myth and fable to the famous 

 expedition of the Argonauts, who brought back this bird, with some 

 other curious and beautiful objects, including the golden fleece, 

 from the banks of the river Phasis, in Colchis. That, at all events, 

 is the tradition which science lias preserved in both names of the 

 species. It is not incredible that the pheasant was introduced 

 into Europe twelve and a half centuries before Christ ; for we 

 know that our familiar homing pigeon was employed as a letter- 

 carrier by the Egyptians at an even earlier date. AYhen and by 

 whom it was first introduced into England is not known. There is 

 evidence that the bird existed and was held in great esteem in this 

 country before the Norman Conquest ; and the belief is that it was 

 brought hither by the Romans, who were accustomed to introduce 

 ' strange animals ' into the countries they conquered, and who gave 

 the fallow-deer to Britain. That the first pheasants brought to 

 Europe were obtained on the banks of the Phasis now the Kiou 

 is highly probable, since the marshy woods in the neighbourhood of 

 that stream are still the headquarters of the aboriginal wild bird. 



