i6 Lloyd's NAitTRAL history. 



Adult Female. — Closely resembles the female o( P. colchicuS. 



Range. — South-east of the Caspian Sea, Ashourada Island, 

 and the Peninsula of Potemkin ; extending to the east, along 

 the valleys of the Atrak, Sumbar, and Chandir Rivers. 



in. THE PRINCE OF WALES' PHEASANT. PHASIANUS 

 PRINCIPALIS. 



Phasiamis principalis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1885, p. 322, pi. xxii. ; 



Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. p. 86, pi. vii. (1889) ; 



Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 325 (1893), 

 Phasianus komarowii, Bogd. Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. xxx. p. 



356 (1886). 



Adult Male. — May be easily distinguished by having the white 

 wing-coverts of P. pefsicus, but, unlike that species, the rump is 

 bronze-red, and practically there is 710 purple-lake gloss on the 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; the feathers of the 

 chest and breast are broadly tipped vi\i\\ purplish-red bronze, and 

 the flank-feathers are broadly tipped with dark purplish-green. 

 Total length, 35*5 inches; wing, 9*4; tail, 2i'5; tarsus, 27. 



Adult Pemale. — Much paler than the female of P. colchicus 

 and P. persicus, the ground-colour of the feathers of the mantle 

 being paier rufous, and the general colour of the rest of the 

 plumage /<7/^ sandy-huff. It is extremely similar to the female 

 oiP. chrysomelas, from the Amu-Darya, described below, having 

 the black spots on the middle of the chest-feathers more 

 strongly marked than in the other allied species. 



Eange. — North-western Afghanistan and north-east Persia. 



Habits. — This extremely handsome species was first dis- 

 covered in 1884 by the members of the Afghan Delimita- 

 tion Commission, and Dr. J. E. T. Aitchison, the naturalist 

 attached to the Expedition, prepared some beautiful skins. 

 He informs us that " the specimens of this Pheasant were all got 

 on the banks of the Bala-Morghab, where it occurs in con- 



