PHEASANTS 



FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



CHAl'lT.ll I. 



NATl'KAL HISTOKV OF TIIH I'll KASA ATS. 



STIUJCTLTRK, FOOD, AND HABITS. 



„,S'HE PHEASANTS, i.t-.-pcrly so called (as dis- 



I bSI tinguisliL'd froui tlie allied Ijut pei't'ectly distinct 



f^jK}^' o'enera ^vhich include the (Jold aud Silver iilieasants, 



^^ the Kaleeg'e, the jMunaul, iV'o.), ctmstitate the genus or 



*' group known to naturalists under the title FJinsanins. 



Of the true plieas:ints no fewer than thirteen ilistiuct 



species have been desn-ibed by Mr. D. G. Elliott, in his 



splendid folio uionogi'aph on the Vhasi(inld;>\ Of these 



several ai-e kntiwn only 1)}^ rare specimens of the skins 



brought from bttle explored iLsiatic countries^ and others 



cannot be regarded as anything more than mere local or 



geograiihical varieties of wcU-kuowu species. Since the 



])ablication of Elliott's Fhn.sidii i(hr several ailditi(jual species 



have been descriljed. 



Mr. Ogilvie-(Jrant in his valnnlde " Haudl)ook on Game 

 Birds" published in Allen's "Natural History" enumerates 

 as many as eighteen species of true pheasants belonging to 

 the o-enus Pli(i.^Laim!<, of which he takes the common species, 

 Fhasi<niii.^ ciilcliirii-^-, as the type, and additional species have 



B 



