388 Mr. S. A. Buturlin on the Geographical 



shore of the lower Atrek to the Ashur-ada Isl. and Potcmkin 

 Peninsula. 



Whether it goes further west in Mazanderan, I do not 

 know. Its southern limit is, in all probability, the Elburz 

 Mountains. In the north it is limited by the lower Atrek R. 

 and the Kopet-Dah Mts. ; and in the east by Mts. Darah-gaz, 

 Kalat-i-Nadir, and others, which form the water-parting 

 between the basins of the Atrek and the Heri-rud. Thus 

 in geographical position, as in external appearance, 

 Ph. 2iersicus stands between the dark- winged and brownish- 

 bellied Caucasian Pheasants and the white-winged and 

 maroon-rufous-bellied birds of the Ph. principalis group. 



6. PhAsianus principalis Sclater. (Murghab Pheasant.) 

 Ph. principalis : 1885, Sclater, P. Z. S. p. 322 (Bala- 



Murghab) ; 1889, Zarudny, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. p. 813 

 (pt., cum Ph. komarowi) ; 1890, Zarudny, Rech. Zool., 

 in 15. S. N. Mosc. p. 309 (pt.) ; 1893, Ogilvie-Grant, 

 Cat. p. 325 (pt., cum Ph. komarowi) ; 1896, Zarudny, Orn. 

 P. Transcasp. (Russ.), p. 477 (pt., cum Ph. kom.) ; 1903, 

 Dresser, Man. p. 660 (pt.). 



The typical Ph. principalis inhabits the Afghan and 

 Russian parts of the Murghab basin and the oases of Mcrv, 

 Yelotan, and Pandj-deh, ranging N.E. to Repetek, but docs 

 not occur in the valley of the Kushk. 



The N.E. deserts separate this bird from its well-differen- 

 tiated race Ph. zarudnyi, and from the black-bellied Turn a 

 Pheasants. From its nearest ally, Ph. komarowi, it is 

 separated by the desert to the west and by the Paropamisus 

 to the south-west. Whether it ranges further east, in the 

 Sangalak valley, I do not know. 



7. Phasianus principalis komarowi Bogdanow. (Tejend 

 Pheasant.) 



Ph. komarowi : 1886, Bogdanow, Bull. Ac. Sc. St. P. xxx. 

 p. 356 (Askhabad). 



Ph. principalis : 1889, Zarudny, Bull. S. N. Mosc. p. 813 

 (pt., cum I'll, princ. vero) ; 1890, Zarudny, Rech. Zool., 

 in Bull. S. N. M. p. 309 (pt.) ; 1893, Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. 

 p. 325 (pt.) ; 1896, Zarudny, Orn. F. Transcasp. (Russ.), 



