PHASIANIN^E. PHASIANUS. 233 



covered with small cutaneous papillae, intermixed with small 

 plumules ; wings short, broad, convex, rounded ; the secon- 

 dary quills nearly as long as the primary ; tail long, gradu- 

 ated, slightly curved, of eighteen tapering feathers. 



151. PHASIANUS COLCHICUS. COLCHIAN PHEASANT. 



Male with the head and upper part of the neck of various 

 tints of green and blue ; the lower part of the neck and the 

 sides yellowish-red, the feathers terminally margined with 

 dark blue ; those of the fore part of the back and the scapu- 

 lars having three bands of yellowish, black, and red, parallel 

 to the edges. Female with the plumage greyish-yellow, va- 

 riegated with black and brown. In a variety called the Ring- 

 necked Pheasant, the colours are similar, but generally some- 

 what lighter, and on the neck is a white band, extending along 

 two-thirds of its circumference, narrow behind, broader at the 

 two extremities. In another, the Bohemian Pheasant, the 

 ground colour of the plumage, excepting that of the head, up- 

 per part of the neck, and middle of the breast, is pale reddish- 

 grey, or cream-colour, deeper and more glossy on the fore 

 neck. Individuals are often white or of various colours. 



Male, 34, 32, 10, 1 T V, 3 T 2 g , 2J, T \. Female, 26, 30. 



The Pheasant, although not indigenous, is now generally 

 dispersed in Britain and Ireland, being nourished in preserves, 

 and in some measure naturalized, although it could not sub- 

 sist with us were it left to its own resources. The males gene- 

 rally keep by themselves in winter, and in spring separate, 

 each selecting a particular spot, where he struts, and invites 

 the females by crowing and clapping his wings. The female 

 deposits her eggs in a slight hollow, scantily lined with dry 

 leaves. They are from six to ten in number, an inch and ten- 

 twelfths long, an inch and five-twelfths in breadth, pale green- 

 ish-brown, or greyish- white, or yellowish-grey. Instances of 

 crossing between the Pheasant and domestic fowl, and more 

 rarely the Black Grouse, occur ; and sometimes the female 

 assumes the plumage of the male. 



Common Pheasant. Ring-necked Pheasant. Bohemian 

 Pheasant. 



Phasianus colchicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 270. Phasianus 

 colchicus, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. ii. 453. Phasianus colchi- 

 cus, Common Pheasant, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 114. 



