232 PHASIANINJE. PHASIANUS. 



Bill short, strong, slightly decurved ; upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line sloping at the base, arcuato-declinate 

 toward the end, the sides convex, the tip rounded and 

 thin-edged. Mouth rather narrow ; palate flat, with two 

 curved, longitudinal, slightly papillate, soft ridges ; tongue 

 of moderate size, fleshy, tapering, slightly concave above, 

 horny beneath ; oesophagus narrow, but enlarged into a 

 crop of great size, lying over the fore part of the neck 

 and thorax ; stomach a powerful gizzard of a subrhom- 

 boidal form, with very large muscles, radiated tendons, 

 and dense epithelium, having two thickened, roundish, 

 grinding surfaces ; intestine long, rather wide ; coeca very 

 long, wider than the intestine ; rectum long, cylindrical. 

 Nostrils linear-oblong. Eyes of moderate size. Legs of 

 moderate length, strong; tarsus stout, a little compressed, 

 anteriorly with two series of alternating scutella, poste- 

 riorly also with two series, and generally a conical spur ; 

 toes four, strong, the first very small and elevated, the 

 anterior connected by basal webs ; claws slightly arched, 

 rather blunt. Plumage various ; wings short, broad, 

 rounded, curved, the third and fourth quills longest ; fea- 

 thers on the rump elongated ; tail long, graduated, or 

 rounded, sometimes even or emarginate, of more than 

 twelve feathers. 



The Phasianinse pass gradually into the Perdicinae, 

 there being no real distinction between them. Only one 

 species of this family occurs in Britain, and even it is 

 not indigenous. 



GENUS LXXVIII. PHASIANUS, PHEASANT. 



Bill short, strong, slightly decurved, higher than broad 

 at the base, depressed at the end. The other characters as 

 above. Plumage various, the feathers generally ovate or 

 oblong, on the head and neck of the males splendent ; eye- 

 lids bare ; a large space surrounding them, and extending 

 along the whole side of the head to the bill, also bare, and 



