PHEASANT. 



367 



It was continually dipping its bill into the water, as if feeding- on some 

 insects ; and so intent on its occupation as to suffer us to approach 

 within a few yards. It never attempted to dive, and, when disturbed, 

 flew only a small distance, very like the dunlins. Temminck informs 

 us that it inhabits the north and east of Europe, being- found in great 

 abundance in Siberia, upon the banks of the lakes and rivers of these 

 regions ; and also on the borders of the Caspian Sea. Is numerous in 

 America and in the arctic regions. Captain Sabine says he found them 

 in the summer in the North Georgian Islands, and that he saw a flock 

 of them, in June, swimming among the Icebergs, four miles from the 

 west coast of Greenland, in latitude 68°.* 



PHALAROPUS (Brisson.) — *A genus thus characterised. Bill 

 long, slender, feeble, straight, depressed at the base, the two mandibles 

 furrowed to the point ; the extremity of the upper curved over the 

 under mandible ; the point of the under mandible awled ; nostrils at 

 the sides of the base, oval, prominent, surrounded by a membrane ; legs 

 middle-sized, slender, shanks compressed ; three toes before, and one 

 behind ; the fore toes united as far as the first joint, the rest fringed 

 with membranes festooned and denticulated upon the edges ; hind toe 

 without a membrane, articulated on the inner side ; wings of middle 

 size, the first and second quills the longest.* 



PHASIANUS (Linnaeus.) — *A genus thus characterised. Bill of 

 mean length, strong ; upper mandible convex, naked at the base, and with 

 the tip bent downwards. Nostrils at the side of the base covered with 

 a gristly scale ; cheeks and region of the eyes destitute of feathers, and 

 covered with a warty red skin ; wings short, the first quills equally 

 narrowed towards their tips, the fourth and fifth the longest ; tail 

 long, remarkably wedge-shaped, and composed of eighteen feathers ; 

 feet having the three fore toes united by a membrane as far as the first 

 joint, and the hind toe articulated upon the shank, which, in the male 

 birds, is furnished with a horny, cone-shaped, sharp spur.* 



PHEASANT (Phasianus colchicus, Linnaeus.) 



*Phasianus colchicus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 270. 3. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 741 . — Briss. 1. p. 



262. 1.— Raii, Syn. p. 56. A. 1 Will. p. 117. t. 28.— Le Faisan vulgaire, 



Buff. Ois. 2. p. 328.— Ib. pi. Enl. 121. and 122.— Temm. Pig. et Gall. 2. p. 



289.— Ib. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 453. — Der gemeine Fasan, Bechst. Tasschenb. 



Deut. 3. p. 1160. — Frisch, Vog. p. 123. — Common Pheasant, Will. p. 163. t. 



28.— Albin, 1. p. 25. 26.— Mont. Orn. Diet. & Supp.— Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. 



p. 282.— Lath. Syn. 4. p. 712. A.—Lewins Br. Birds, 3. t. 31.— Wale. Syn. 2. 



t. 178.— Don. Br. Birds, 5. t. 101.— Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. l.—Flem. Br. Anim. 



p. 46 — Selby, pi. 57. p. 298 * 

 Weight of a full-grown bird near three pounds ; length three feet ; 

 bill pale yellowish horn-colour ; irides yellow ; sides of the head bare, 

 granulated, crimson, minutely speckled with black. This part is con- 

 siderably brighter and much dilated in the courting season ; at which 



