File:An illustrated manual of British birds (1889) (14768462243).jpg

Identifier: illustratedmanua01saun (find matches)
Title: An illustrated manual of British birds
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Saunders, Howard, 1835-1907
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: London, Gurney and Jackson
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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the Red Grouse, the Ptarmigan suffersfrom disease, at least in Scotland. The male in summer has a red wattle over each eye ; lores, head,shoulders and breast blackish ; upper parts, long tail-coverts andflanks finely mottled and barred with greyish-brown ; tail-feathersblack, tipped with white; belly white. Length 15 in. ; wing 8 in.The plumage of the female is orange-tawny, barred with black. Inboth sexes and at all seasons—except for the short time that theyoung are in nestling plumage—the wings are white, with dark shaftsto the quills. In autumn the upper parts are finely vermiculatedwith slate-grey. In winter both sexes are white, but the male maybe recognized by his black lores and eye-stripes ; old females, how-ever, sometimes exhibit the latter. More than nine-tenths of theso-called Ptarmigan sent over to our markets are Willow-Grousein winter dress ; these may be known by their larger size, andas regards the males—by the absence of any black on the lores. PHASIANID^. 485
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THE PHEASANT. Phasianus colchicus (Linnreus). There is evidence that the Iheasanl had become naturalized inthe south of England before the Norman invasion, though there isno mention of its existence in Scotland until 1594, or in Irelandtill 1589; at the present day, however, it is generally distributedthroughout the United Kingdom, and it has even been acclima-tized in some of the Outer Hebrides. Little, if any, deviation fromthe typical P. colcJiicus took place up to the end of last century,when the introduction of the Chinese Ring-necked P. torqiiatits 486 PHEASANT. commenced, which has left ahnost indehble marks, especially withregard to the characteristic white collar. Fertile hybrids have alsobeen produced with the beautiful green-tinted Japanese P. versicolor,and the splendid long-tailed Chinese P. reevesi; the so-calledBohemian Pheasant being merely a pale bufif-coloured variety. The Pheasant owes its generic and specific names to its tradi-tional introduction from the banks of

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