462 Capt, G. P. L. Marshall on a new 



Female. Somewhat similar to the female of P. macrolopha, 

 but with all the markings more strongly pronounced and of 

 a generally darker hue. I have seen five specimens of the 

 female of this species^ but have none with me now, and I 

 unfortunately omitted to take a detailed description at the 

 time. In addition to the general description given above, 

 the locality in which my specimen was obtained will be suffi- 

 cient to fix the identity of the species ; for the geographical 

 distribution of this group of Pheasants is well marked. 



There are, including the species now described, six kinds 

 of " Pucras " or " Koctas " Pheasants known, all of which 

 inhabit the vast mountainous chain which extends across 

 Asia from Afghanistan to near the Pacific Ocean in a more or 

 less unbroken series of ranges. Each of these species has its 

 own particular section of this tract, in which it occurs to the 

 exclusion of the other species ; but to what extent the range of 

 each species overlaps that of the next in geographical order 

 is, as yet, very imperfectly known, and it is not improbable 

 that hybrids may be met with between any two of the species 

 on the borders of their respective ranges. It is also not im- 

 possible that they may, after all, be merely local races of 

 the same species. The negative fact that no two different 

 species have been found inhabiting the same locality, rather 

 favours this view ; while, on the other hand, the fact that, 

 so far from a regular gradation of colour from west to east 

 being perceptible, the form inhabiting Nepal has its nearest 

 ally in the Kashmir form, and its next nearest in that 

 from the extreme west, while the intervening form in Ku- 

 maon is most widely distinct from it, raises a presumption 

 strongly in favour of the specific distinctness of the various 

 races. A parallel case to this curious distribution is found 

 among the long-tailed blue Magpies {Urocissa), in which the 

 Bhotan form {U. flavirostris) is identical with the Kashmir 

 form while a distinct species {U. occipitalis) is found in 

 Kumaon and the intervening region, and where it occurs the 

 Bhotan form is absent. 



The headquarters, so to speak, of the six known species, 

 commencing from the west, are as follows : — 



