SPORT IN WESTERN CHINA 119 



to be a species new to science, and Messrs. Thayer and Bangs 

 have done me the honour of naming it /. wilsoni. This new 

 Blood Pheasant differs in its smaller size, measuring only 

 14I- inches, tip to tip. The wing is very much shorter, and 

 the whole bird is only about two-thirds the size of /. geo-ffroyi. 

 The colour of the plumage is similar in both species. 



In a region considerably to the west of Tachienlu (Yerkalo, 

 on the Upper Mekong River), the Himalayan species (/. cruentus) 

 has been reported, but I have no personal knowledge of this bird. 



The colloquial name throughout west Szechuan for the 

 Blood Pheasants is " Song che," which may be interpreted 

 " Chicken of the thickets." This bird feeds on Juniper berries 

 and buds of Larch amongst other things, and the whole flesh 

 is permeated with a decided flavour of resin, rendering it unfit 

 for the table. 



PUCRAS PHEASANTS 



Three distinct species of Pucrasia are now known from 

 China, two of them occurring in the regions with which we 

 are concerned. In western Szechuan, ranging (at least) from 

 Wa shan in the south to Tachienlu in the west, and north- 

 wards to Kansu, Pucrasia xanthospila is met with. This is 

 essentially a woodland bird, frequenting the forests of Spruce 

 and Silver Fir between 8000 feet and the tree-limit (11,000 

 to 13,000 feet, circa), where the undergrowth is mostly 

 composed of Rhododendrons. It is particularly partial to 

 places where fir needles cover the outcropping rocks. In 

 such places in the forests these birds are frequently to be seen 

 walking silently about with the dignified deliberateness of a 

 barnyard fowl. They are silent (almost uncannily so) in their 

 movements ; they skulk about amongst the timber, and refuse 

 to take wing unless very hard pressed by a dog, when they fly 

 up into the branches of the nearest tree. The males measure 

 22 to 23 inches, tip to tip ; ground colour of sides and flanks, 

 grey; nape, rufous-yellow ; basal parts of outer tail-feathers, grey. 

 The common name of this pheasant is " Sung che," literally, 

 " Pine Chicken." {Sung, strictly speaking, denotes the genus 

 Pinus only, but in Western China the term has a wider applica- 



