582 Mr. S. A. Buturlin on 



the two forms lies mucli more to the north than I assumed, 

 and itj is not improbable that all the lowlands of Eastern 

 China (Lower Hoang-ho included) are inhabited by the paler 

 southern 'race P. gmelini. It was, of course, not a happy 

 inspiration to name the bright race P. kiangsuensis, as it 

 now proves not to extend its range into the Kiang-su 

 province, but it cannot be helped, and as Squatarola helvetica 

 does not breed in Switzerland and Xylocopus kamtchatkensis 

 is never met with in Kamtchatka, the error will not remain 

 unique. 



My second mistake, as it seems, was in further subdividing 

 the bright-coloured more northern bird into two forms on 

 the ground of characters that do not hold good in a larger 

 series — at least most of them, — as Messrs. Alpheraky and 

 Bianchi point out, and as T am now myself convinced. 



My P. kiangsuensis was actually based on birds of the north- 

 western mountainous part of the north-eastern provinces of 

 China (Pe-chi-li and Shan-si), which were brought from 

 Kalgan. But brightly coloured specimens of North-eastern 

 Ordos (M. V. Pewzow's specimens : S.W. from Kuku- 

 Khota, near the N.E. bend of the Hoang-ho and Uliassutai) 

 differed, as it seemed to me, in having sandy-grey (not 

 lavender-grey) wing-coverts, a more greenish rump, a more 

 glossy nape, and more dingy superciliaries. I identified 

 these Ordos birds with P. torquatus var. C (of David and 

 Oustalet's well-known work) of Shensi, and therefore named 

 them in my letters and manuscript map of Geographical 

 Distribution of true Pheasants " P. schensinensis," as 

 mentioned in the Russian edition of my first paper on 

 Pheasants. Later on I identified them with " P. holdereri " 

 of Schalow, and described them under that name. 



Both these identifications were incorrect, as "P. torquatus 

 var. C " is most probably P. berezowskii and " P. holdereri" 

 is typical P. strauchi. Further, the more lavender or more 

 sandy-tinged grey colouring of the wing-coverts as well 

 as the more greenish rump are purely individual features, as 

 may be seen in a large series of almost every species of the 

 eastern group of true Pheasants. The narrowness of the 



