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G. H. Edwards—Pheasants



link up the Polyplectrons with the other Pheasant groups, but the

Polyplectrons themselves surely begin where Pigeons end. They bill

feed their young ; their eggs, number and type, nesting and general

habits are akin in so many ways to those of Pigeons that one wonders

at the fine dividing line.



IV


VARIED GROUPS—DIVERSITY OF FORM AND FEATHER-

HOW THE CHANGES MAY HAVE BEEN WROUGHT


The Peacock Pheasants are but glorified Pigeons, and from the

Ground-Pigeons it is but a step to the widespread Quail family. The

Quails again lead us back to the Pheasant tribe by way of the Blood

Pheasants which live in the snows of the Himalayan peaks. Virtually

on top of the World ; and looking down from them and their habitat,

we see the stocky Impeyan Lophophorus, living jewels of scintillating,

burnished plumage. Living at high elevation the Cheer Pheasant is

to be found. Westward are the Koklass Pucrasia, and, from the heights

which run as the backbone of India into Tibet and North-West China,

we meet the genus Chrysolophus —Golden and Lady Amhersts. In

Tibet and Manchuria, the strange Crossoptilons, with their long,

upswept ear feathers and barb-like tail coverts. China is the home of

the Silver Pheasant of the Kaleege group. Temper and battle seems to

be in the make-up of all the Kaleeges, another fiery example of which

is the handsome Swinhoe, confined to the Isle of Formosa.


In Japan we find the Copper Pheasants, and the Japanese Versicolor,

the most Eastward member of the group Phasianus, whose blood

mingles in the veins of Colchicus in this country of ours. P. versicolor

in the East, P. colchicus in the West; the genus ranges from the Atlantic

to the Pacific.


Beebe, in the beautiful language typical of all his writings, and

particularly so of Pheasants, Their Lives and Homes, makes us realize

the widespread nature of the group of true Pheasants, when he says

“ Their habits are much alike, although they are widely distributed

. . . there is little difference between Colchicus, which ranges the

Caucasus along the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and the Versicolor,



