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OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Species and varieties. The relationships of the various kinds 

 of pheasants are not positively known. Some kinds that are 

 undoubtedly varieties of the same species are commonly classed 

 as different species. The best-known of these so-called species 

 interbreed freely. The rare kinds have not been sufficiently 

 tested, either with common kinds or with one another, to show 



FIG. 170. Amherst Pheasant 



whether they are species or merely varieties. The European 

 pheasants, descended from the stocks which came in early times 

 from Western Asia, are called by various names Common 

 Pheasant, Darknecked Pheasant, English Pheasant, and Hun- 

 garian Pheasant. Two kinds of pheasants, of the same type but 

 having more distinctive color markings, have in recent times 

 been brought from Eastern Asia. One of these is commonly 



