io8 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



been introduced, but have not been so readily acclimatized, 

 and are comparatively seldom seen outside the aviary. 



The country of western Hupeh, of which the city of Ichang 

 maybe regarded as the " Gate," constitutes a natural boundary 

 for members of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The flora 

 and fauna found east of this region are, generally speaking, 

 totally different to that found to the westward. The explana- 

 tion is to be found in the character of the country. At Ichang 

 commence the series of mountain ranges which, rising higher 

 westward, finally culminate in the mighty snowclad ranges 

 of the Chino-Thibetan borderland. Enclosed within this 

 mountain-system is the Red Basin of Szechuan which is de- 

 scribed in Vol. I, Chapter VI. This highly cultivated Basin 

 again constitutes a barrier, and very few of the game birds or 

 animals are common to both its eastern and western boundaries. 

 East of Ichang for looo miles to the coast lay the vast alluvial 

 plains and flats of the Yangtsze Valley. Here and there 

 mountain ranges crop out like islands in the ocean, and so long 

 have these elevations been isolated that they support in the 

 main a peculiar flora and fauna. The surprisingly restricted 

 range of the component species is one of the most interesting 

 facts in Chinese natural history. 



Of true Pheasants [Phasianus) some six species occur in 

 the region with which this work is concerned. Each of these 

 species occupies its own particular geographical area. But 

 it must be admitted that the modern tendency of systematic 

 ornithologists to split up species into subspecies and varieties 

 based on very slight variations renders the subject complicated 

 and difficult. Indeed to such an extent is subdivision carried 

 that one is sometimes inclined to think the actual differences 

 exist on paper only. 



The low foot-hills, which commence some 30 miles east of 

 Ichang, constitute the western limit of the common Ring- 

 neck Pheasant of middle eastern China and the Yangtsze 

 VaUey in particular (P. torquatus, var. kiangsuensis) . It 

 is likewise the eastern boundary of a Pheasant in which the 

 ring is usually quite absent (P. holder eri). The " Ring-neck " 

 is essentially a bird of the plains, whilst the other is a mountain 

 bird, adapted to more austere conditions of life. 



