﻿PHASIANUS 
  

   TRUE 
  PHEASANTS 
  

  

  Family 
  PHASIANIDAE 
  

  

  Subfamily 
  PHASIANINAE 
  

  

  Genus 
  PHASIANUS 
  

  

  This 
  is 
  the 
  group 
  of 
  so-called 
  True 
  Pheasants, 
  the 
  group 
  which 
  includes 
  the 
  bird 
  

   known 
  almost 
  everywhere 
  as 
  the 
  Common 
  or 
  English 
  Pheasant. 
  Some 
  of 
  the 
  members 
  

   of 
  this 
  genus 
  are 
  among 
  the 
  most 
  familiar 
  of 
  the 
  birds 
  comprised 
  in 
  this 
  monograph, 
  

   while 
  others 
  we 
  know 
  only 
  from 
  a 
  single 
  individual, 
  purchased 
  in 
  a 
  market 
  in 
  some 
  

   isolated 
  Turkestan 
  village 
  and 
  deposited 
  in 
  a 
  far-distant 
  Russian 
  museum. 
  

  

  Their 
  habits 
  are 
  much 
  alike, 
  although 
  they 
  are 
  widely 
  distributed, 
  and 
  in 
  voice, 
  

   modes 
  of 
  life, 
  courtship, 
  eggs 
  and 
  development 
  of 
  plumage 
  there 
  is 
  very 
  little 
  difference 
  

   between 
  colckicus, 
  which 
  ranges 
  the 
  Caucasus 
  along 
  the 
  eastern 
  shores 
  of 
  the 
  Black 
  Sea, 
  

   and 
  versicolor, 
  the 
  sound 
  of 
  whose 
  challenge 
  mingles 
  with 
  the 
  boom 
  of 
  the 
  Pacific 
  

   breakers, 
  pounding 
  on 
  the 
  Japanese 
  coast, 
  fifty-five 
  hundred 
  miles 
  to 
  the 
  eastward. 
  

  

  In 
  order 
  to 
  treat 
  the 
  group 
  clearly 
  I 
  have 
  drawn 
  a 
  sharp 
  line 
  of 
  demarcation 
  between 
  

   Phasianus 
  as 
  they 
  exist 
  in 
  their 
  real 
  zone 
  of 
  distribution, 
  and 
  the 
  forms 
  which 
  have 
  

   been 
  crossed 
  indiscriminately 
  and 
  acclimatized 
  in 
  all 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  world. 
  

  

  At 
  least 
  thirty-five 
  forms 
  of 
  these 
  pheasants 
  have 
  been 
  described, 
  and 
  ranked 
  and 
  

   re-ranked 
  according 
  to 
  the 
  personal 
  bias 
  of 
  various 
  authors. 
  Some 
  give 
  to 
  each 
  a 
  

   binomial 
  name 
  and 
  full 
  specific 
  rank; 
  at 
  the 
  other 
  extreme 
  we 
  find 
  colckicus 
  called 
  a 
  

   species, 
  and 
  all 
  the 
  rest 
  subspecies 
  or 
  geographical 
  races 
  of 
  this. 
  Until 
  the 
  vast 
  

   wilderness 
  stretching 
  from 
  the 
  Caucasus 
  eastward 
  through 
  Turkestan, 
  Mongolia, 
  Central 
  

   China 
  and 
  Manchuria 
  is 
  zoologically 
  better 
  known, 
  we 
  can 
  only 
  sum 
  up 
  our 
  present 
  

   knowledge 
  and 
  place 
  our 
  construction 
  on 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  the 
  group 
  accordingly. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  evolution 
  of 
  these 
  birds 
  it 
  appears 
  that 
  mutation 
  has 
  played 
  little 
  part, 
  and 
  

   most 
  of 
  the 
  forms 
  actually 
  grade 
  into 
  one 
  another, 
  and 
  in 
  their 
  extremes 
  are 
  separated 
  

   only 
  by 
  slight 
  differences 
  of 
  colour 
  and 
  pattern. 
  This 
  last 
  is 
  true 
  even 
  of 
  the 
  Formosan 
  

   bird, 
  but 
  that 
  of 
  Japan 
  has 
  departed 
  more 
  widely 
  from 
  the 
  general 
  type 
  of 
  mainland 
  

   pheasant. 
  There 
  is 
  a 
  good 
  deal 
  of 
  individual 
  variation, 
  especially 
  in 
  the 
  more 
  widely 
  

   distributed 
  forms, 
  as 
  those 
  of 
  Eastern 
  China, 
  and 
  this 
  necessitates 
  the 
  changing 
  of 
  the 
  

   species 
  status 
  in 
  this 
  genus. 
  

  

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