1918.] Recently published Ornithological Works. 7%7 



work, for it was he who suggested that the monograph 

 shouhl be uudertaken, and has supported both the explor- 

 ation and subsequent publication in a most complete 

 manner. 



The present volume commences with a short introduction, 

 containing a iiistorical notice and an account of Capt. Beebe's 

 new classification of the group, which is based on the method 

 and order of the mouk of the tail-feathers : thus he distin- 

 guishes the true Pheasants, including Gallus, as a subfamily 

 Phasianinse by the fact that the moult of the tail proceeds 

 from the outer feathers inwards, while in the case of Itha- 

 genes and Tragopan which he unites with the Partridges as 

 a subfamily Perdiciuse, the moult of the rectrices is from 

 the central pair of feathers outwards. In the Argus Pheasant 

 and its allies the moult begins with the third from the 

 central pair and proceeds inwards and outwards, and in the 

 Peafowl with the sixth pair from the centre, and these are 

 regarded as forming a third and a fourth subfamily. 



Other sections of the introduction relate to the voice, 

 flight, gait, food, protective colouring and sexual display, 

 and in a final paragraph dealing with the relations to man 

 it is pointed out how much danger there is of these very 

 beautiful but comparatively stupid and easily trapped birds 

 being exterminated, partly by the demands of the plumage 

 trade and partly by the adoption by the Chinese of a meat 

 diet, while up to the period of the outbreak of the war 

 thousands of Pheasants were imported frozen from eastern 

 Asia into western Europe by the game-dealers to satisfy the 

 demands of the epicures of London and Paris. 



The present volume deals with the eleven forms of i31ood- 

 Partridge {Ithagenes), six Tragopans, three Impeyans or 

 Monals, and three Eared Pheasants. 



The accounts given of each species or subspecies are very 

 complete, and where the author has had opportunities of 

 seeing the birds in their native wilds full of suggestive 

 observations. On the whole Capt. Beebe is very restrained 

 in the recognition and multiplication of subspecies, but we 

 notice he adheres to the distinctness of his It hagenes cruentus 



