PHASIANUS, Tem. Ste. PHEASANT.
Bill short, thickened, naked at the base, bent down to wards the tip ; nostrils basal and lateral ; ears covered ; feet four-toed and gressorial, tarsi furnished with spurs ; tail elongated, cuneiform, and composed of eighteen fea thers ; wins short The beautiful and elegant species comprised under this genus are all natives of Asia, fre quenting woody situations, and subsisting on seeds and insects. The females produce many young at a brood, which they foster for some time, like the domestic hen. Their nests, which are rudely constructed, are formed on as winter advances, and the trees lose their foliage. On these occasions the males make a noise called rocketing, which they repeat three or four times ; but the hens, on flying up, utter one shrill whistle, and then are silent. Owing to their size, and their awkward mid noisy flight, the sportsman reckons the pheasant a bird of easy conquest ; and it is even reputed stupid, because, when roused, it will often perch on a neighbouring tree, and have its at tention so rivetted on the dogs, as to suffer the sportsman to approach very near. It has been observed, however, that the old cocks have recourse to various stratagems, in thick and extensive coverts, before they are compelled to take wing ; and Le Roy has remarked, that they regulate the hours of their repast by the seasons. The crowing of the males, which begins in the first week of March, may often be heard at a considerable distance.
P. pictus, Lin. &c. Painted or Golden Pheasant. Crest yellow ; feathers of the occiput brown, varied with black lines ; body golden yellow above, scarlet beneath, second ary quills blue ; tail cuneated. One of the most beautiful of the tribe. Total length about two feet nine inches. The female is not only smaller, and has a much shorter tail, but the whole of her plumage is less gay and splendid. The young males resemble the females, and are not in vested with all the richness and brilliancy of their attire till the second moulting. The females, on the other hand,
at the age of five or six years, sometimes put on the male plumage. The painted pheasants are natives of China, from which they have been introduced into the parks and aviaries of Europe. In this country they are reared with as much ease as the common species, and they seem to be more familiar in their habits. They feed on rice, hemp seed, wheat, or barley, and they will also eat cabbages, herbs, fruits, &c. ; but they are particularly fond of in sects, tbe difficulty of procuring a sufficiency of which is supposed to be a principal cause of the many disorders to which they are liable. So early as March the female de posits her eggs, which resemble those of the Guinea Pin tado, and are redder than those of the common pheasant. The flesh of the present species is reckoned superior to that of any of the others The painted pheasant will breed with the common, but the offspring is infertile.
P. sat pros, Tern. Vieill. Meleagris satyra, Lin. Lath. Penelope satyra, Gmel. Horned Pheasant, or Horned Turkey. Red-brown, with white eyelets, ringed with black ; head with a double blue horn ; throat with a pen dulous membrane. Of an intermediate size between a common fowl and a turkey. The most remarkable attri bute of the male, is a fleshy, callous, blue substance, like a horn, which springs from behind each eye ; and, on the fore part of the neck and throat, is a loose flap, of a very line blue colour, marked with orange spots. The female wants the horns. This singular and rare species inhabits Bengal, and the mountains which separate Hindostan from 'Tibet and Nepanl. The male possesses the faculty of dilating and lengthening the flap on the throat, so as al most to make it hang over the breast, at which time the colours are greatly heightened, appearing of a deep blue, barred across with crimson.