color, fig. 11). In England both the English pheasant and the English ringneck are referred to as the common pheasant.

FIG. 4.-Mongolian pheasant (Phasianus mongolicus). (From photograph of specimen in the U. S. National Museum mounted by Harry Denslow.)

The Mongolian pheasant (Phasianus mongolicus, fig. 4), which has a more or less complete white ring about the neck, but in other respects resembles the English pheasant more than it does the ringneck, is the

FIG. 5.-Reeves pheasant (Phasianus reevesi). (From photograph of specimen in the U. S. National Museum mounted by Nelson R. Wood.)

rarest of the four kinds in American preserves and aviaries. It is a native of the region about Lake Balkash, Central Asia.

The Bohemian pheasant and the white pheasant are merely color

phases, chiefly of the English pheasant and the English ringneck.

FIG. 6.-Lady Amherst pheasant (Chrysolophus amherstix). (From photograph of specimen in the U.S. National Museum mounted by Nelson R. Wood.)

FIG. 7.-Manchurian pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum). (From photograph of specimen in the U.S. National Museum mounted by Nelson R. Wood.)

The Reeves pheasant (fig. 5), a large and striking bird with a tail sometimes 5 or 6 feet long, is usually met with in aviaries, though it

has been placed in game coverts in Europe and, to a very limited extent, in the United States, and may still be found on certain Scotch estates, where it ranks very high as a game bird. It normally inhabits east central Asia.

Two of the best known and most commonly imported pheasants are the golden and Lady Amherst (fig. 6), both of the genus Chrysolophus, originally from the mountains of eastern Tibet and western and southern China. Both are favorite aviary birds, and the golden

FIG. 8.-Crimson tragopan (Tragopan satyra). (From photograph of specimen in the U. S. National Museum mounted by Nelson R. Wood.)

pheasant has been liberated in various game covers in America and Europe, but with indifferent success.

The silver pheasant (Gennæus nycthemerus) is often seen in parks and aviaries, but the numerous other members of the genus, usually called kaleeges (or kalijes), are not often imported into this country. The home of the genus is the Indo-Chinese countries and the lower ranges of the Himalayas.

The eared pheasants (Crossoptilon), large, dull-colored birds of the higher ranges of central and eastern Asia, are known in American aviaries mainly through the Manchurian pheasant (fig. 7), the most

28456-Bull. 390-10-2

northerly member of the genus. These pheasants lack the timidity so characteristic of most of the pheasant family and would probably lend themselves readily to domestication. At present their high price-$40 to $60 a pair-is practically prohibitive of any extensive attempt to domesticate them, but should they become more common, they would be excellent subjects for such experiments.

Other aviary pheasants are the horned pheasants (Tragopan, fig. 8), large, brilliantly plumaged birds, whose ranges extend from the Himalayas to central China; the firebacks (Lophura), likewise large, bright-feathered birds, from the Shan States, Cochin China, and the southern islands from Sumatra to Borneo; the peacock pheasants

FIG. 9.-Monaul (Lophophorus refulgens). (From photograph of speci-
men in the U. S. National Museum mounted by Harry Denslow. The
light area on the wing is due to reflected light from its iridescent
feathers.)

(Polyplectron), from the same general region; the monauls (Lophophorus, fig. 9), from the wooded heights of the Himalayas, the best known of which is the gorgeously iridescent impeyan pheasant; the Argus pheasants (Argusianus), the most expensive of all the pheasants and rarely imported from their home in Siam and islands to the southward; the blood pheasants (Ithaginis), from the high mountains of eastern Tibet, northern India, and western China; the koklass pheasants (Pucrasia), mountain birds of northern Afghanistan, eastern Tibet, China, and Manchuria; and finally the jungle fowls (Gallus), whose home is in the extreme south of Asia and islands to the south

ward, and whose general appearance strikingly supports the belief that they are the birds from which our domesticated chickens are derived (fig. 10).

HISTORY OF PHEASANT RAISING.

EUROPE.

The English pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) derives its specific name from the ancient country of Colchis, on the eastern shore of the

FIG. 10.-Red jungle fowl (Gallus bankiva). (From photograph of specimens in the U. S. National Museum mounted by Nelson R. Wood.)

Black Sea. It was imported thence into Europe by the Greeks, probably under Alexander the Great, and was by them reared for food. Perhaps at the same time, but probably one or two centuries later, it was brought from the adjoining country of Media to Egypt, where it was reared in the palace at Alexandria and was highly esteemed as a dainty for the table. Its propagation in confinement was continued in the days of the Roman Empire, under which it appears to have been carried throughout much of Europe and as far west as Britain. It was introduced into Ireland and Scotland before the close of the sixteenth century, and has recently been established in Sweden and Norway. It is now acclimatized practically all over Europe, and has been introduced into the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.