92 PHASIANID^. 



eyes, destitute of feathers, and with a verrucose red covering. Wings short : 

 the first quill-feather narrow towards the tip ; the fourth and fifth feathers the 

 longest in the wing. Tail long, wedge-shaped, graduated, containing eighteen 

 feathers. Feet three toes in front, one behind ; the three anterior toes united 

 by a membrane as far as the first joint ; the hind toe articulated upon the tarsus, 

 which in the male birds is furnished with a horny, conical, and sharp spur. 



BOTH the generic and specific names of the Pheasant are 

 due to the mythological tradition which attributes to Jason 

 and his Argonauts the introduction of the bird from the 

 banks of the river Phasis, in Colchis. This classic stream 

 is the modern Rion, which finds its way into the Black Sea 

 near the town of Poti, whence the railway now runs to Tiflis, 

 the capital of the Caucasus ; and in its unhealthy swamps 

 the descendants of the original stock are still to be found 

 in all their purity. The head- quarters of this Pheasant 

 appear to be the marshy forests of the shores of the Caspian 

 Sea, as far east as the river Gurgan, near Astrabad ; the river- 

 valleys of the Caucasus,, especially the Terek and Goulak up 

 to 3,000 feet elevation ; the neighbourhood of Astrakhan ; 

 and the northern portions of Asia Minor which border on the 

 Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora, particularly near Broussa. 

 It occurs as far south as Ephesus, but Mr. Danford did not 

 meet with it in the Cilician Taurus, nor did Canon Tristram 

 find it in Syria. In Greece the remains of a species of 

 Pheasant have been disinterred at Pikermi, in Attica, and its 

 modern representative still frequents the covers at the foot 

 of Mount Olympus, although nearly exterminated in the 

 swamps of Akarnania. Not known in Cyprus or Rhodes, it 

 occurs on the island of Thasos near Salonika, and in suitable 

 localities throughout Roumelia, as well as in Albania ; but 

 north of the line of the Balkans it is probably not in- 

 digenous. Assuming it to have been introduced at some 

 unknown period, it is now found in a feral state in nearly 

 every country in Europe. It occurs in South Russia ; in 

 Transylvania, although now nearly exterminated, it was 

 formerly abundant; and in Bohemia and some parts of 

 Saxony it wanders uncared for; but north of Central 

 Germany it requires, and receives, a certain amount of 

 protection. Under such conditions it exists in Holland, 



