83 



Order II. GALLING. 

 Family PHASIANIM. 



Genus PHASIANUS. 

 Phasianus, Brisson, Orn. i. p. 262. 



The Pheasants inhabit the Palaearctic Eegion, one species only being found in the Western Pate- 

 arctic Region ; but of late years so many other species of Pheasants have been introduced into 

 preserves and crossed with the common Pheasant, that it is difficult to obtain pure-bred birds, 

 except in the extreme south-eastern portion of the Eegion. They frequent groves and woods, 

 especially where there are cultivated fields in the immediate vicinity, and feed on seeds, fruits, 

 insects, &c, obtaining their food to a large extent by scratching, like the domestic fowls. They 

 fly well, though not very swiftly, and when rising they do so rather noisily. They roost on trees, 

 frequently at a considerable height above the ground ; and the cock birds usually utter their loud 

 crowing note when they fly up to their roosting-place. They walk with ease, and often traverse 

 considerable distances on foot when wandering about in search of food. They are polygamous ; 

 and fierce combats often take place between the males for the possession of the females. The 

 nest is a depression in the soil, in some well-sheltered place, lined with grass, leaves, roots, &c. ; 

 and the eggs, which are numerous, are pale olivaceous brown in colour. The young birds when 

 hatched are covered with close short down, and are able to run about almost immediately. 



Phasianus colchicus, the type of the genus, has the bill strong, short, deeper than broad at 

 the base, depressed at the end ; nostrils linear, oblong, slightly recurved, placed in the lower and 

 fore part of the nasal membrane, which is thick, vaulted, and smooth ; eyelids and a large space 

 round the eye, extending to the bill, bare and covered with small cutaneous papillae, with a few 

 plumules here and there ; wings short, broad, rounded, the first quill about equal to the eighth, 

 the fourth and fifth longest, the secondaries nearly as long as the primaries; tail very long, 

 much graduated, composed of eighteen feathers ; legs strong, the tarsus moderately long, stout, 

 scutellate, furnished behind with a short, conical, straight spur ; hind toe small ; anterior toes 

 strong, united at the base by thick webs ; claws moderate, arched, flat beneath, moderately 

 sharp ; oesophagus (as is the case with all the gallinaceous birds) enlarged into a crop of con- 

 siderable size, which lies over the fore part of the neck and thorax. 



162 



