CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 5. RA80RES. 
251 
captivity the plieasant will breed with the common fowl and guinea-fowl, and in a wild state 
hybrids of these with the black grouse have been met with. 
The RiNa-NECKED Pheasant, P. torquatus, is a Chinese species, twenty-nine inches long, and 
marked by a white band around the neck. The Golden" Pheasant, P. jnctus, and the Silver 
Pheasant, P. nycthemems, are exceedingly briUiant and beautiful; they arc fomidwild in China, 
and are common in European countries in a domestic state. 
THE AsaUS PHEASANT. 
Genus ARGUS : Argus. — ^To this belongs the Argus Pheasant, A. giganteus^ surpassing m 
size and splendor all tlie other species. It is more than five feet long, and is remarkable for the 
length of the secondary quill feathers of the wings, which often exceed two feet in length | being 
adorned with a series of ocellated spots along their whole length, they give the bird an indescrib- 
able magnificence when the wings are expanded. It is a native of Sumatra and India. 
Among the other species of these elegant birds are the Impeyan Pheasant, Lophophorus Im- 
peyanus — size of a hen turkey, and found in Nepaul — and Hastings' Tragopan, Tragopan Hast- 
ingsii, from the northern range of the Himalaya Mountains. The latter is distinguished by a 
crest, and two fleshy horns rising from the back of the head ; a mass of fleshy wattles cover the 
under part of the neck. The habits of these birds resemble those of other pheasants. 
Genus GALLUS : Gallus. — This includes the Common Fowl, Gallus domesticus, the most valu- 
aole of all birds to man. This has been under his protection from time immemorial ; and the 
