



1HE Ijmn -NECKED niEASANT. 



The Eing-plieasanfs are common in the woods of many pai'ts of China. They are 

 frequent in India, where they are smaller than the common pheasant. They are also 

 found about the Caspian Sea, on the southern part of the desert between the Don and the 

 Volga, in Great Tartar}". 



It is long since this bird was brought from China into Euiope. Its size is always less, 

 the expanse of its wings smallei', and its tail shorter, when it is compared with the 

 common pheasant. The upper part of its head is tawny, with a gloss of green, two white 

 dashes surmount the eyes, and the rest of the head and neck are of a deep and brilliant 

 green, with a violet reflexion, except where the white collar, which gives its name to the 

 species, passes round the neck. 



The feathers of the back are black in the middle, surrounded by a zig-zag whitish 

 band, and tipped by a black arrow-shaped spot ; those of the shoulders are black at the 

 base, marked in the centre by a whitish pupil surrounded by a black ring, and chestnut 

 with somewhat of a purplish gloss towards their tips. The tail -coverts are light-green 

 with loose silky barbs ; tlie breast of a brilliant reddish purple ; the sides pale-yellow ; 

 the under parts and thighs black, with a gloss of violet ; and the tail-feathers olive-green 

 in the middle, with broad black transverse bands. 



31. Temminek considers the ring-necked pheasant of China not as a variety of the 

 common species, but as one that is distinct. In its native countrj- this bird never unites 

 with the common pheasant. There is a constant and marked dissimilarity between the 

 plumage of these two birds. Their manners are dissimilar, and their eggs of a different 

 colour. 



In the female there is a narrow band of short black feathers beneath each eye, which 

 distinguishes her fi-om the common pheasant, from which she differs besides in the want 

 of the black spots on the breast, and the greater intensity of the transverse black bars 

 upon her tail. 



Phrtsiiiiui.s 'l'()i(|uatus. 



2 E 



