the True Pheasants. 575 



kindness, an elaborate description (all published descriptions 

 and figures being somewhat contradictory and not quite 

 sufficient) made by him in the British Museum o£ the type 

 specimen of the P. elegans of Elliot (labelled " S type. 

 Sechuen, 72. 10. 30. 1, /. J. Stone"), and also of Wallis's 

 specimen from the Shan States. Comparing this description 

 with Dr. Bianchi's description of his P. suehschanensis and 

 my own notes made from the type of this last species, I see 

 that Mr. Stone's and Mr. Berezovsky's specimens are 

 in fact as similar in the pattern of the scapulars as in 

 other particulars of general coloration. But P. elegans 

 has somewhat paler tips to the feathers of the mantle, 

 and; as it seems, no dark apical shaft-streaks at all on 

 the feathers of the upper back. In P. suehschanensis 

 these black (metallic-green or blue) wedge-shaped shaft- 

 streaks aie, on the contrary, very well developed, being about 

 10 mm. long and 4 mm. broad in the middle of the inter- 

 scapulary region''^. Therefore P. suehschanensis Bianchi is 

 quite a good species of Northern Sze-chuan (nearest to 

 P. vlangalii of Eastern Tsaidam, but much darker), though 

 its original diagnosis fits P. elegans as well. 



5. Phasianus strauchi. {Strauch's Pheasant.) 



P. holdereri: 1901, Schalow, J. f. Orn, 1901, p. 414 {nee 

 Buturlin, Ibis, 1904, pp. 384, 406). 



Ph. decollatus strauchi: 1908, Alpheraky and Bianchi, /. c. 

 p. 447. 



Messrs. Alpheraky and Bianchi were able to examine, 

 through the kindness of Dr. A. Reichenow, the type specimen 

 of " P. holdereri " of Schalow from Min-Tschou, South- 

 eastern Kan-su, and find that it is quite a typical P. strauchi, 

 and that the original description and especially the figure of 

 P. holdereri are very misleading. Therefore P. strauchi 

 inhabits not only South-western, but all Southern Kan-su. 

 Dr. Schalow was evidently led astray by the presence of 



* These blaclv wedges, present in all species of true Pheasants except 

 P. eleycms, are, of course, mentioned in Dr. Bianchi's very full description, 

 but omitted in the diajjnosis and tables. 



