48 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family PHASIANIDiE. Genus Phasianus. 



PHEASANT. 



PHASIANUS COLCHICUS— Linw^MS. 



Plates IX. (Frontispiece) and X. 



Phasianus colchicus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 271 (1766); Macgill. Brit. B. i. p. 114 

 (1837) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 85, pi. 469 (1879) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 91 

 (1883) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. ii. p. 445 (1884) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. 

 B. p. 357 (1893) ; Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 320 (1893) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. 

 Brit. B. part xxxiii. (1896); Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B.p. 275, pi. 59 (1896); 

 Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iv. p. 291 (1897). 



Geographical distribution.— SWi^sA..- The Pheasant was probably 

 introduced into the British Islands by the Eomans. It is a resident throughout 

 all parts of the country where it is preserved, even in some of the wildest districts 

 of the Outer Hebrides, the presence of cover being all that is required in 

 addition to artificial feedihg during severe weather. Foreign : Although intro- 

 duced into most parts of Europe (with the exception of Spain and Portugal), and 

 of recent years into North America, the true habitat of this species is in Western 

 Asia, in the western parts of the basin of the Caspian Sea, and the southern 

 and eastern portions of the basin of the Black Sea. It is a resident in the 

 valleys of the Caucasus up to 3,000 feet above sea-level, and inhabits the country 

 along the Caspian, from the Volga in the north to Asterabad on the southern 

 shore ; it is found in the northern districts of Asia Minor, south to Ephesus, 

 and is a resident on the island of Corsica. 



Allied forms. — The various species and races which are most closely 

 allied to the Pheasant of Western Asia and Europe (the typical English species) 

 are by no means clearly defined, and it is probable that further research may prove 

 that several of these forms are merely the result of interbreeding. A table showing 

 their geographical distribution and points of distinction is inserted at the end of 

 the present chapter. 



Habits. — The almost uninterrupted interbreeding which has been going 

 on between the Eing-necked Pheasant from China and the typical Pheasant 

 from Colchis for the past ninety years has so far contaminated the original 

 stock that few, if any, pure-bred birds are to be found in the British Islands. 

 Again, in more recent years, another species (figured with the Eing-necked 

 Pheasant on Plate X.) has been introduced into our islands and has crossed 

 with these two species, viz., the Japanese or Green Pheasant, Phasianus 



