PHASIANIDJE : PHEASANTS. 
575 
which the trachea is convoluted in an appendage to the furculum ; Acryllium vulturina, Agelas- 
tes meleagrides, and Phasidus niger, are the remaining ones. 
The Phasianidce, or Pheasants, are a magnificent family of typical Gallince, of which the 
domestic fowl is a characteristic example. The feet, nasal fossae, and usually a part, if not the 
whole, of the head, are naked, and often combed, horned, or wattled. The tarsi commonly 
develop spurs. The tail, with or without its coverts, sometimes has an extraordinary develop- 
ment or a remarkable shape (p. 118). There are fifty or sixty species, distributed in numerous 
modern genera, about 
twelve of which are 
well marked ; they 
are all indigenous to 
Asia and neighbor- 
ing islands, focusing 
in India. In the 
Peacock, Pavo cris- 
tatus, the tail-coverts 
form a superb train, 
capable of erection 
into a disk, the most 
gorgeous object in 
ornithology; in an 
allied genus, Poly- 
plectron, there are a 
pair of spurs on each 
leg. The Argus 
Pheasant, Argusa- 
nus giganteus, is dis- 
tinguished by the 
enormous develop- 
ment of the secon- 
dary quills, as well 
as by the length of 
the tail-feathers and 
peculiarity of the 
middle pair. The 
combed, wattled, and 
spurred barn - yard 
fowl, with folded tail 
and flowing middle 
feathers, are descend- 
ants of Gallus bank- 
iva, type of a small 
Fig. 395. 
Turkey. (From Lewis.) 
genus. The Tragopans, Ceriornis, are an allied form with few species; the Macartneys, 
Euplocomus, with a dozen species, are another near form, as are the Impeyans, Lophophorus, 
with a slender aigrette on the head, like a peacock's. The naturalized English pheasant, P. 
colchicus (fig. 394), introduced into Britain prior to A. D. 1056, is the type of Phasianus, in 
which the tail-feathers are very long and narrow ; in one species, P. reevesii, the tail is said 
to attain a length of six feet. The Golden and Amherstian Pheasants, C^ri/soZop^MS pictus and 
C. amherstieB, are singularly beautiful, even for this group. The other genera are Crossoptilon 
and Pucrasia. 
