580 Mr. S. A. Buturlin 07i 



P. berezoivsJcii) . For P. strauchi with its paler northern 

 subspecies P. sohokhotensis and P. decollatus with its darker 

 northern subspecies P. berezowskii are quite specifically 

 distinct, and P. berezowskii does not form a connecting-link 

 between them, though it is paler than P. strauchi and 

 somewhat darker than P. decollatus. In the pattern of its 

 side-feathers it is a true ^' decollatus," having them narrowly 

 tipped with black, whereas in P. strauchi these black bands 

 occupy the whole width of the feather. And in some respects 

 P. berezowskii is even more different from P. strauchi than 

 P. decollatus. I mean that the black wedge-shaped apical 

 spots on the feathers of the upper back, that are narrow in 

 P. strauchi (and P. sohokhotensis), are wide in P. decollatus, 

 and wider still in P. berezowskii. The scapulars in P. bere- 

 zowskii are also somewhat paler than in P. decollatus, and 

 not darker. Perhaps it may prove better to treat it even as 

 quite distinct specifically, though the differences from P. de- 

 collatus are rather those of quantity. 



8. Phasianus alaschanicus. {Alashan Pheasant.) 



P. torquatus : 1891, Berezowski and Bianchi, Aves exp. 

 Potanini, p. 18 (pt., nee Gra.). 



P. decollatus: Bianchi, 1906, Bull. Ac. Sc. St. Pet. 

 V. ser, xxiv. t. n. 1 & 2, p. 90 {" typicus " \) ; 1907, Aves 

 exp. Kozlowi, p. 200 {" quite typical "") (partim, nee 

 Swinhoe). 



P. alaschanicus : 1908, Alpheraky and Bianchi, 1. c. 

 pp. 434, 452. 



A pair of these birds was procured by Col. N. M. 

 Przewalski in January 1884 in an oasis near the western 

 slopes of the central parts of the Alashan Range, in South- 

 eastern Alashan. 



P. alaschanicus bears a striking similarity to P. decol- 

 latus in general appearance, but belongs to quite another 

 section of the genus, having always clearly discernible traces 

 of whitish eyebrows. It has a slight white collar embracing 

 about two-thirds of the neck, but this character does not 



