CHAPTEE X. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT. 



THE COMMON PHEASANT (PHASIANUS 

 COLCHICVS). 



HE pheasants which are best adapted to the coverts 

 in England, the United States of America, Australia, 

 and other temperate climates, are undoubtedly those 

 which belong to the restricted genus Phasianus, or, 

 as so many term them, the true pheasants. Formerly 

 there was but one distinct species or race known in 

 Europe, that which is named the P. colchicus, from its having 

 being received from the banks of the River Colchis in Asia 

 Minor. This was followed by the ring-necked P. torquatus 

 from China, and subsequently by the P. versicolpr from 

 Japan. These were originally regarded by naturalists as 

 perfectly distinct species, but it is now known that they breed 

 freely with one another, and that the offspring are perfectly 

 fertile, however intimately they are interbred. The late 

 Henry Seebohm, who paid great attention to the birds of 

 this group, writing in the Ibis for 1887, said : 



" The fact that all true pheasants interbreed freely with 

 each other and produce fertile offspring, may be accepted as 

 absolute proof that they are only sub-specifically distinct 

 from each other. Like all other sub-species, they only exist 

 upon sufferance. The local races appear to be distinct 

 enough, but they only retain their distinctive character as 

 long as they are isolated from each other. The moment they 



