24 Lloyd's natural history. 



forms. Severt^ov says that the country between Kuldja and 

 Urumtsi, at the base of the Tian-shan mountains, where this 

 form was first obtained, is a steppe locality with a rivulet and 

 marshes. 



B. General colour of the lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts greenish or bluish slate-colour, ivith a 7'ust- 

 coloured patch on each side {except in P. versicolor). 

 Witli a ivhite ring round the 7ieck. 



IX. THE CHINESE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. PHASIANUS 



TORQUATUS. 



Phasianus torquattis, Gmelin, S. N. i. pt. ii. p. 742 (1788); J 

 E. Gray, 111. Ind. Orn. ii. pi. 41, fig. i (1834); Gould, 

 B. Asia, vii. pi. 39 (1856) ; Sclater and Wolf, Zool. Sket. 

 i. pi. 37 (1861) j Elliot, Monogr. Phasian. ii. pi. v. (1872) ; 

 Prjevalsky, in Rowley's Orn. Misc. ii. p. 385 (1877); 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 331 (1893). 



Phasianus albotorquatus, Bonnat. Tabl. Encycl. Meth. i. p. 184 



(1790- 



i^Plate XXII.) 



Adult Male.— The colour of the lower back, &c., mentioned 

 above, serves to distinguish this species at a glance from all those 

 already described. The ground-colour of the mantle and flank- 

 feathers is bright orange-buff instead of primrose, as in P. for- 

 jnosanus (but it must be added that in some birds from Corea 

 and China this difference is scarcely apparent) ; the chest- and 

 breast-feathers have only the narroivest purple margins, and 

 the w^hole breast is glossed with purplish-lake, as in P.persicus. 

 From the red-rumped species this and the following birds are 

 further distinguished by having the black bars on the basal 

 part of the tail-feathers niuch wider. Total length, 35 inches ; 

 wing, 9*2; tail, 20*2 ; tarsus, 2*7. 



Adult Female. — Closely resembles the female of P. colchicus. 

 Total length, 24*5 mches; wing, 8'2 ; tail, 105; tarsus, 2-4. 



