. The birds of the British Isles and their eggs . 2 PL i:;g. Turtle-Dove. i 7th. Pallass Sand-Grouse. 2 9ths. ^344-. PHEASANT. 345 Order GALLIFORMES. Family Pheasants and Partridges. Ground birds, with short, rounded wings ; bill short andstout, toes four. Pheasant. Fhasiajms colchicus Linn. Only as a long-established alien can the Pheasant (Plate 152)be admitted as a British bird, though the date of introductionis unknown ; it is first mentioned in 1059. More recentlyvarious pheasants have been introduced, and have interbredwith the older stock; it is impossible to meet with a pu
. The birds of the British Isles and their eggs . 2 PL i:;g. Turtle-Dove. i 7th. Pallass Sand-Grouse. 2 9ths. ^344-. PHEASANT. 345 Order GALLIFORMES. Family Pheasants and Partridges. Ground birds, with short, rounded wings ; bill short andstout, toes four. Pheasant. Fhasiajms colchicus Linn. Only as a long-established alien can the Pheasant (Plate 152)be admitted as a British bird, though the date of introductionis unknown ; it is first mentioned in 1059. More recentlyvarious pheasants have been introduced, and have interbredwith the older stock; it is impossible to meet with a puredescendant of the original P. colchicus, though some of thecharacters survive. The Chinese P. torquatus, first introducedabout two hundred years ago, has also left its mark, notablyin the white neck ring, but as the blood of five or six otherspecies may be intermingled, we can only look upon the semi-domestic Pheasant of to-day as a mongrel. Crosses with moredistantly related birds take place occasionally, even with BlackGrouse and various breeds of domestic fowl. P. colchicus hailsfrom the Black Sea area of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidbirds, bookpublisherlondon
