Taxonomy and Distribution 
Order Galliformes 
Family Phasianidae 
Genus Phasianus | 
Species P. versicolor 
Subspecies 
P, v. robustipes Northern green pheasant Most of Honshu, inter- 
grading with versicolor 
in the southwest, and 
with tanensis north of 
Izu and Miura peninsulas; 
Shikoku. 
P. v. tanensis Pacific green pheasant Honshu, in warmer, more 
a ae humid parts of the Izu 
and Miura peninsulas the 
Seven Islands of Izu, 
Tanegashima and Yakushima 
(south of Kyushu). 
P. v. versicolor Southern green pheasant Kyushu and southwestern 
tip of Honshu in 
Yamaguchi prefecture. 
This report follows the classification of Delacour (8). Distribu- 
tion is indicated in Figure 1. It has been noted by Delacour and others 
that all forms of true pheasants replace one another geographically and 
interbreed freely where their ranges overlap, producing completely 
fertile hybrids, Due to striking color differences between western 
mainland true pheasants and the green pheasants of Japan, Delacour has 
suggested the formation of two separate species, P. colchicus (of the 
-mainland) and P, versicolor resident in Japan. 
While Delacour lists three races of green pheasants (P. versicolor 
ssp.) in Japan, Peters (16) divides the Japanese green pheasants into 
four subspecies, P. colchicus robustipes, P. c. versicolor, P. c. tanensis, 
and P. c. kiusuensis (Figure 2). In "A Hand-List of the Japanese Birds," 
1958, the Ornithological Society of Japan also lists four subspecies of 
the green pheasant but differs as follows: P. c. robustipes, P. c. 
tohkaidi, P. c. tanensis,and P. c. versicolor. Austin and Kuroda (4) 
follow the taxonomy of Delacour. 
