BIRDS COLLECTED IN JAP AN. 223 



On careful comparison with specimens of Turtur meena from India, we find no material dif- 

 ference. It is possible that the Japanese bird may be slightly larger ; and in the specimens now 

 before us the black space on the sides of the neck is more extended, and the feathers more 

 widely edged with ashy than in those from India ; "eye orange." 



Mr. Heine mentions this bird as follows : 



" The cooing of this dove could be heard everywhere in the woods around Hakodadi. They 

 were, however, difficult to approach, and would take alarm very easily. They were generally 

 in pairs, and kept always in the tops of the highest trees." 



PHASIANUS VEKSICOLOE, Vieillot. 



Phasianus versicolor, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. II, p. 23, (1825.) 

 Phasianus Diardii, Temm. pi. col. V, liv. 82. 



Plate 1. — Male and Female. 



The pheasants appear to have been originally birds of Asia exclusively, though one species, 

 the common pheasant, and perhaps another, the ring-necked pheasant, have been naturalized 

 in Europe for many centuries. The introduction of the common pheasant of Europe {Phasianus 

 colchicus, Linnajus) is ascribed by history, or rather by legend, to Jason, and is supposed to have 

 taken place about 1250 years before the Christian era. It is said to have been brought from the 

 banks of the river Phasis, in Colchis, a country in Asia Minor, and hence acquired its Latin 

 name Phasianus, from which all others by which it is known in Europe are derived. 



This bird is now completely naturalized throughout nearly the whole of Europe, and is a very 

 remarkable instance, if its introduction is truly stated, of transplanting or naturalizing a species. 

 Though frequently attempted, success is attained exceedingly rarely, and the probability is that 

 zoological provinces now remain very nearly as at the era of the earliest reliable history. Were 

 it not for such instances as that of the European pheasant, though they are rare, and instances 

 also of the complete naturalization of plants, as the Leontodon and Capsella in North America, 

 the successful transplanting of any natural production from its native region to another might 

 be safely doubted. Instances in the animal world are, however, of seldom occurrence, and the 

 bearing of this description of information on the great questions of migration and colonization 

 in the human family is important in the highest degree. 



Several different groups or genera of birds have been called pheasants, of which we can 

 enumerate perhaps ten known species, including the Argus pheasant, {Argus giganteus,) a large 

 and magnificent species of northern Asia, inferior in size and color only to the peacock, and the 

 golden pheasants {Thaumalea) of China. They appear to be very similar to each other in their 

 habits, habitually living in thick and tangled woods, and resorting only for food to unsheltered 

 localities. 



All the known species, including the two that we have mentioned, are Asiatic, and the 

 localities in that continent of all are now well known. Of these we have the gratification of 

 presenting to the reader figures of the two species yet known to inhabit the Japanese empire, 

 and to lay before him the first information ever obtained in relation to these beautiful and 

 interesting birds. 



The bird now before us has been known to naturalists since the time of Vieillot, as above cited, 

 who described it from specimens brought to France by M. Diard, a celebrated collector. It is 

 erroneously stated by Vieillot to be from the island of Java. It has, however, always been 



