312 Mr. H. Seebohm on 



of Merula torquata alpestris. Professor Newton will doubt- 

 less plead that a ' History of British Birds ' is not the place in 

 which to expect a notice of a continental species ; but this 

 plea will not avail Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser, or myself. 

 I must confess that, had not my blunder been pointed out, I 

 should have redescribed the continental form as the winter 

 plumage of the bird which breeds in our islands. 



' XXIX. — O71 Phasianus torquatus and its Allies. 

 By Henry Seebohm. 



Rathee more than a year ago I succeeded in completing my 

 series of specimens of the six races of which the Common 

 Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, may be regarded as the type, 

 and I wrote a short paper (Ibis, 1887, pp. 168-173) describing 

 their characters, affinities, and geographical distribution. 



I have now been fortunate enough to secure examples of 

 six out of the seven races of which the Siberian Pheasant, 

 Phasianus torquatus, may be regarded as the type. Of 

 P. elegans I have not even seen an example, and rely for a 

 diagnosis of its characters upon Elliotts plate and description. 



The Siberian Pheasant and its allied races are only found 

 east of the meridian of Calcutta. They differ from the Com- 

 mon Pheasant and its allied races, which are only found west 

 of that line, in the following particulars : — The predominant 

 colour of the rump and upper tail-coverts is green instead of 

 red, and the wing-coverts are lavender-grey instead of white 

 or red. In my former paper I added four other characters, 

 founded upon the colour of the mantle and crown, the width 

 of the cross bars on the tail-feathers, and the predominant 

 colour of the latter. Now that I have had an opportunity 

 of examining examples of the two new species of Pheasant 

 obtained by Prjevalsky, I find that the last- mentioned cha- 

 racters do not apply to them. 



Typical examples of the seven races oi Phasianus torquatus 

 may be distinguished as follows : — 



