1 92 1.] Birds of North-East Chihii. 5 



twittering continuously. Some packs ke])t wheeling round, 

 but none settled that day. During that mouth a great number 

 appeared to have passed, some from west to east, others in 

 an opposite direction. They jrrohably came from the interior 

 via the Chihii Plain. Many flocks must have settled on the 

 plain in this vicinity and farther north, as the market during 

 tlie winter was stocked with both live and dead birds. The 

 former were kept in baskets like chickens or quail and 

 seemed quite tame. They were fed on kaoliang (sorghum). 

 I saw birds flying also during December^ but all passed at a 

 considerable distance, and I had to fall back on the market 

 for specimens. The immigration must have ceased early in 

 the winter as no fresh specimens were to be seen in the 

 market after December or maybe January, and the birds 

 must have returned inland during the latter month. After 

 this, I did not see any more, neither were any exposed for 

 sale in the Chinwangtao market. 1 was much astonished to 

 hear from Mr. A. L. Hall, to whom I am indebted for much 

 information and for specimens from the extreme north of 

 the province, that this Sand-Grouse is unknown in the 

 Chihfeng district. Mr. C. B. Rickett wrote to me in the 

 spring of 1913 that o;reat numbers of Sand-Grouse were 

 imported that season into England from Russia, so that 

 1912-13 must have been a great Sand-Grouse year. 



Pallas's Sand-Grouse is also of irregular occurrence at 

 Newchwang and is occasionally very abundant there. During 

 the winter 1889-90 I saw but one flock and none were 

 brought to market. 



187. Phasianus colchicus karpowi Buturlin. 



Phasianus torquatus, var. «, D. & O. p. 409. . 



The North China Ring-necked Pheasant is very abundant 

 in the mountainous country north of Chinwangtao, but does 

 not occur commonly within twelve miles of the port. From 

 the beginning of November to the beginning of March the 

 market is stocked with these pheasants brought down from 

 localities twenty to sixty miles distant from the coast. 



The characteristic features of the North China Pheasant 



