CHAPTEE XVI. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT 

 (CONTINUED). 



THE PKINCE OF WALES' S PHEASANT (PHASIANUS 

 PRINCIPALIS). 



April, 1885, Dr. Sclater exhibited at the Zoo- 

 logical Society skins of a pair of pheasants, brought 

 from Bala Mur^hab, North Afghanistan, belonging 

 to the Prince of Wales, and read extracts relating to 

 the specimens from a letter addressed by Mr. Condie 

 Stephen to Sir Dighton Probyn. 

 tc These pheasants," writes Mr. Stephen, "abound in the 

 reeds fringing this river, rising in places in far larger numbers 

 than I have seen in any battue in England. You can imagine 

 what a quantity there must be from the fact that we killed 

 more than four hundred on our march of thirty miles up the 

 river, mostly cocks." 



The living specimens, which were subsequently received 

 in the gardens, and from which the engraving was taken, 

 were obtained by Major Peacock from the Afghan frontier, 

 but in consequence of their being received in very poor 

 condition, they all died without having produced any young. 



The most important characteristic of this fine bird, 

 and one that distinguishes it from all the pheasants first 

 naturalised in this country, is that the wing coverts are white, 

 a character which it has in common with the Mongolian 

 pheasant, P. mongolicus ; but it differs in the markings and 



