phasianid

adj

1. Of or relating to semiflightless, gallinaceous game birds, such as pheasants, quails, peafowl, junglefowl, and guinea fowl.

   “The chukar, a bird of the phasianid family, is distributed in Israel across a sharp climatic cline from Mediterranean regions in the north to extremely arid areas only ~200 km away in the Negev Desert.”

2. Specifically, belonging to the zoologic family Phasianidae, or associated with species falling under that taxonomic hierarchy.

   “The megapode is viewed as a ‘specialised’ galliform, having extended the phasianid incubation period and producing superprecocial hatchlings that have developed in the egg for a further four weeks.”

noun

1. Any semiflightless, gallinaceous game bird.

   “It is a medium-sized phasianid: males can weight even 600 grams and are bigger than the females. Moreover, unlike the females, they have ergots on the claws.”

   “Typical of many phasianid birds, guinea fowl are capable runners that have strong burst-flight capacities but little endurance in flight.”