112 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



This Pheasant ranges up to the Hmits of cultivation {circa 

 11,500 feet), and is partial to brush-clad mountain-slopes 

 bordering the fields of wheat and barley, the staple crops in 

 this region. He descends the Upper Min Valley to about 

 6000 feet altitude, but is essentially a bird of high elevations. 



At Sungpan I have shot this bird inside the city walls, and 

 so abundant are they there that the Chinese declare that in 

 winter they can be walked up to and killed with a stick ! 

 Though this is probably an exaggeration the bird is undoubtedly 

 very common, and the broad valleys and fairly easy slopes 

 render the sport enjoyed after this Pheasant less fatiguing 

 than that after any other of the mountain species. In 

 the brushwood haunts of this bird, however, the Sallowthorn 

 [Hippophae salicifolia) abounds, and one's shins and knees 

 need good protection against the stout thorns which beset 

 this shrub. The true Phasianus elegans and this variety (or 

 species, as the case may be) are hardy birds, and their intro- 

 duction into the west is much to be desired. In North America 

 in particular they would probably prove of greater value than 

 the varieties of the more tender P. torquatus. They are as 

 strong on the wing as any kind of Pheasant, lie close and 

 afford the finest of shooting. 



On the mountains bordering the Red Basin from Wench'uan 

 Hsien northward to the borders of Kansu, from 4000 to 

 9000 feet elevation, the Pheasant commonly met with is 

 P. berezovskyi. In this bird the crown of the head is purplish ; 

 neck, dark lustrous green; chest and breast, rich coppery-bronze, 

 with the breast-feathers narrowly margined with black ; flanks, 

 dark ; rump, slaty-blue ; total length about 36 to 38 inches. 



On one occasion, in 1908, two companions and myself 

 enjoyed some excellent sport after this bird in the mountains 

 to the immediate east of Mao Chou. Had we been out for a 

 bag we could easily have secured a hundred brace in the four 

 days we spent in this region. One of the cocks shot measured 

 over 40 inches, tip to tip. Scrub-clad mountain-slopes near 

 cultivation is the home of this handsome Pheasant. 



Some confusion has arisen in the matter of identification 

 of the Ringless Pheasant {P. decollatus) through I'Abb^ David 

 and others referring the Ringless Pheasants found in Shensi 



