112 
PHASIANIDrE. 
The birds we have noticed, are all the species of Te- 
tronidce, whether indigenous or naturalised, which 
have any claim to a place in our fauna. Of the 
next family, the Phasianidce , Europe presents no 
natural example ; but one of the finest and most suc- 
cessful of all our ornithological introductions, typi- 
cally represents it in 
The Common Pheasant, Fhasianus Colchicds. 
— It is recorded to have been introduced into Europe 
1250 years before the Christian era ; * and into Bri- 
tain in 1299, during the reign of Edward the First, t 
From its ease in rearing, the beauty of its plumage, 
the delicacy of its flesh, and value in cover to the 
sportsman, it has been, since that early period, 
fostered and preserved, and turned out from one 
locality to another ; and, at the present time, there 
are few districts to the south of the middle of Scot- 
land, or over England, where it is not to be met 
with in greater or less proportion. In Ireland we 
believe its distribution to be not so equal, owing to 
the impossibility of preservation. In Europe, or 
wherever they have been introduced, we have two 
birds of different plumage, the one with a conspi- 
cuous white ring upon the neck, the other wanting 
entirely that ornament. These, in our preserves, 
* Daniel’s Rural Sports. + Echard’s Hist, of England. 
