. Fancy pheasants and their allies. Pheasants. SlLVKll AND OTHER KaLEEGE PhEASAXT«. 19 CHAPTER V. SILVER AND OTHER KALEEGE PHEASANTS. The group of Pheasants known as Kaleeges ivre not so uniform in appearance as those that have been dealt with so far ; but they are not hard to distinguish, never- theless. In size they are abo'it equal to the common Pheasant or larger ; in form they somewhat recall the lighter breeds of poultry, especially in their vertically folded tails ; both sexes are crested, and have a red skin round the eye, which can expand upward and down- ward in the cocks when excite
. Fancy pheasants and their allies. Pheasants. SlLVKll AND OTHER KaLEEGE PhEASAXT«. 19 CHAPTER V. SILVER AND OTHER KALEEGE PHEASANTS. The group of Pheasants known as Kaleeges ivre not so uniform in appearance as those that have been dealt with so far ; but they are not hard to distinguish, never- theless. In size they are abo'it equal to the common Pheasant or larger ; in form they somewhat recall the lighter breeds of poultry, especially in their vertically folded tails ; both sexes are crested, and have a red skin round the eye, which can expand upward and down- ward in the cocks when excited. The cocks are spurred, and are very pugnacious ; they have a curious habit of standing up and producing a whizzing noise by buzzing with their wings. The Kaleeges naturally fall into two ' types ; those in which the cook has a full drooping crest and long curved tail, like ihe silver Pheasant, and those in which the cock's cre^t is narrow and projecting, and the tail little longer than tlie hen' the Lineated Pheasant. Few of the latter type are worth keeping, not being possessed of beauty either of form or colour. The Kaleeges are forest birds, inhabiting the lower slopes of tlie Himalaya=!, in India, and other warm climates, but they are quite hardy in England. They are, however, quite useless as game birds, being very pugnacious, unwilling to rise on the wing, and flying nconveniently low for shooting when they do so. The Silvee Kaleege. {Genncens in/cfhaiicfiis.) This is the largest and finest of the Kaleeges, exceed- ing the common Pheasant in size. The cock's tail reaches two feet in length. In colour he is purple-black on the crest and on the under parts from throat to tail; the upper jJumage and tail are white, pencilled with fine concentric hair-lines of Hack, the pencilling becom- ing strong and bold on the feathers of the wing and tail. The ceniire l;ail-feathers, however, are unmarked, and at a little distance the whole upper plumage looks white. Some speci
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