THE GAME BIRD^ OE IXDIA. Mr> 



blackish brown, the outer tail feathers darker than the central 

 ones. Under parts nitons brown to, rich blackish brown, the 

 feathers marked with bold concentric bars of rich fulvous, these 

 bars following- the contour of the feathers, and not in longitudinal 

 stria9 as in lineatns. 



Colours of the Soft J\irfs. \s in ni/dhemerus. 



2\[€asurements.—Wmg 9" (228-6 mm.) to 10-1" (256-5 mm.) 

 with an average for twenty-one birds of 9-6" (243-8 mm.); tail from 

 9-2" (233-6 ram.) to 12-0" (304-8 mm.), with an average of about 

 10-8" (274-3 mm.); tarsus about 3-3" (83-8 mm.); bill at front 

 about I'l" (27-9 mm.) and from gape about 1-3" (33 mm.); crest 

 about 2-0" (50-8 mm.). 



In adult females there is generally an indication of a spur shown 

 bv a knob which sometimes protrudes from the tarsus as much as 

 •15' (3-7 mm.). 



" Wei(]hts. — The average weight of the male is 3 lbs., and that of 

 the female 2^ lbs. The above averages have been obtained by 

 weighing some twenty specimens." (Nisbett.) 



Distribution. — Roughly speaking, the range of this bird is bounded 

 by the Irrawaddy and Salwin Rivers on the West and East respec- 

 tively, on the North by latitude 27^" and South by latitude 21°. 

 It must, however, be remembered that Gennceus horsfieldi horsfieldi 

 wanders down the Irrawadd}^ over the greater part of this area 

 on the banks of the river and lowest hills, and that between the 

 habitat of the two birds there is a no-man's land which is occu- 

 pied not only by birds which are in a geographic (or climatic) 

 transitional stage, but by a very great number of pheasants which 

 are hybrids, the result of direct crossing between true horsfieldi 

 and?i. rujipes. 



The article by Mr. Finn and Capt. Nisbett in this Journal XIII., 

 p. 521, is of the gi'eatest interest, and it is remarkable that this 

 combination of acute observers should have got so much nearer the 

 truth in regard to the subspecies and species of Gennceus than did 

 Oates with nearly ten times the material to work on. Capt. Nisbett 

 remarks : — 



" The lower in altitude and the nearer the Irrawaddy one 

 '•finds them, the more they partake of the Black-Breasted 

 " Kalij in character; and the higher one gets towards the 

 " Chinese frontier, the more they partake of the appearance of 

 "the Silver Pheasant." 

 Mr. Finn adds to this : 



" There can be no doubt that the veiy interesting series of 

 " forms of Gennchus forwarded bj^ Capt. Nisbett and described 

 " above, are hybrids of various grades between the common 

 " Black, or Black-Breasted Kalij (^Gennceus horsfieldi) and 



