THE PHEASANT. 869 



Family PHASIANID^. 



Contains the Pheasants, Partridges, Quails. Nostrils never 

 hidden by feathers, tarsi bare, toes bare, not laterally pectinated. 

 Tarsus in males often with spurs or blunt protuberances. Almost 

 cosmopolitan. 



Key to genera of Family Phasianid.e. 



-, /Tail very long, graduated . 



\Tail short, more or less rounded 

 2 / First primary as long as second or longer 



\ First primary shorter than second 

 o /Rectrices usually 18, side -feathers normal 



Phasianus, p. 869 

 Coturnix, p. 879 

 Perdix, p. 874 



\ Rectrices normally 14, side-feathers very wide at tip Alectoris, p. 882 



Genus PHASIANUS L. 



Phasianus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 158 (1758 — Type by tau- 

 tonymy and subsequent designation Phasianus, i.e. Phasianus colchicus). 



Tail very long, wedge-shaped, graduated, 18 rectrices. Nostrils 

 bare, i.e. not covered by feathers. 1st primary as long as 8th or 

 longer, 4th and 5th longest. Sides of head bare in male, with a verru- 

 cose covering. Tarsus bare, that of male with spur. Sexes different 

 in size and colour. Eggs unspotted. One, or if Phasianus versicolor 

 is looked upon as a species, two, species in numerous subspecies 

 from western Asia east to Japan, Yunnan and Formosa. 



PHASIANUS COLCHICUS* 



490. Phasianus colchicus L.— THE PHEASANT. 



Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 158 (1758 — 



" Habitat in Africa, Asia." Africa is wrong ! Restricted typical locality : 



Colchis). 



Phasianus colchicus (Linnaeus), Yarrell, in, p. 91 ; Saunders, p. 499. 



Description. — Adult male. — Winter and summer. — Ph. c. colchicus. 

 — Crown glossy bronze-green ; fore-head, line over eye, nape, back 

 of neck and base of neck all round and chin and upper-throat dark 

 glossy green ; middle of sides of neck and throat glossy purple 

 shading into greenish ; ear-coverts black-brown (feathers of crown 

 somewhat long and on each side of back of crown above ear-coverts 

 an erectile tuft of rather square-tipped feathers) ; mantle and 

 scapulars deep burnished copper, feathers of upper-mantle with a 



* Evidently Phasianus colchicus colchicus L. was the form first intro» 

 duced into England. Afterwards the Ring-necked Pheasant, Ph. colchicus 

 torquatus, and here and there several allied forms were acclimatized, and they 

 have so freely mixed with the old race that hardly any pure colchicus can 

 now be found, and most or all British Pheasants are now mongrels mostly 

 with white ring on neck. We therefore treat the bird binominally. — E.H. 



