426 CLASS xvi. 



Sp. Argus giganteus TEMM., Phasianus Argus L., Argus pavoninus VIEILL., 

 LESS. Ornith. PL 84, Diet. univ. d'ffist. Nat., Oix. PL 70; Sumatra, 

 Borneo. 



Phasianus L. (in part). Bill shorter than head, vaulted, naked 

 at the base. Nostrils basal, partly covered by membrane. Tarsi 

 covered anteriorly with a double row of scutes, in males spurred. 

 Cheeks denuded. Wings short, rounded, with fourth and fifth quills 

 longest of all. Tail elongate, cuneate, with 18 feathers. 



a) No caruncles at the sides of bill. 



Sp. Phasianus colchicus L., BUFF. PI. enl. 121, 122, NAUM. Taf. 162; the 

 pheasant; in the cock, head and neck blue-green; breast and belly red- 

 brown with transverse violet bands ; wings spotted brown and red ; the 

 naked ring round the eyes deep red ; the hen is brown, with black and 

 yellow spots. Like most gallinaceous birds, this bird lives in polygamy ; 

 the female lays from 8 to 15 light olive-grey or dirty-white eggs. Although 

 now living wild in many countries of Europe, it was not originally 

 indigenous, but an inhabitant of Asia, and was first brought by the Greeks, 

 as is asserted, from Colchis to their own country. Phasiamis pictus L. 

 BUFF. PI. enl. 217, LESSON Omith. PL 83, fig. 2 (Thaumalea WAGL., 

 GRAY), China ; Phasianus versicolor VIEILL., TEMM. PL color. 486 male, 

 494 fern., Japan, &c. 



b) Naked skin below the cheeks pendent on each side as a caruncle by 

 the sides of the bill. Gallophasis HODGS., GRAY in part, Euplocomus 

 GRAY (1840). 



Sp. Phasianus nychthemerus L., BUFF. PL enl. 123 male, 124 fern.; the 

 silver-pheasant; from China. All the species of this genus came originally 

 from Asia. 



Gallus BRISS., ILLIG., TEMM. Bill and other characters nearly 

 those of the preceding genus. Head crested with elongated feathers 

 or with fleshy, coloured skin. Naked skin below the cheeks de-| 

 scending at the sides of bill. Tail compressed, ascending, with 14 

 feathers, the coverts in males mostly elongate, curved concealing. 



Sp. Gallus gattorum LESS., Phasianus gallus L., BUFF. PI. enl. i, 49, 98, 

 LESSON Ornith. PL 83, fig. i ; the common cock; of this species there are 

 many varieties, of which FRISCH has represented some with great beauty. 

 The wild species from which our domestic cock descends is, according to 

 TEMMINCK, Gallus Bankiva, GUER. Iconogr., Ois. PL 42, fig. 2. (It seems 

 improbable that our poultry should be derived from any Malay breed. 

 The introduction of the common fowl into Europe is beyond all record. 

 See T. CRAWFORD Descr. Dictionary of the Indian Islands, London, 1856, 

 p. 113.) Gallus Sonnerati TEMM., SONNERAT Voy. aux Ind. or. n. PL 1 17> 

 118, TEMM. PL color. 232, 233, Bengal; in the cock, neck-feathers with 



