Distribution of the True Pheasants. 391 



not be, undistinguishable from some other form. But, in fact, 

 Ph. zarudnyi is a very well-differentiated form. As to cross- 

 breeding- it is quite likely that Ph. chrysomelas may some- 

 times, on the borders of Khiva, interbreed with Ph. zarudnyi, 

 as it does, in fact, with Ph. moiujolicus turcestanicus on the 

 eastern shores of the Aral Sea. Nevertheless M. Menzbier 

 does not deny that Ph. chrysomelas and Ph. mongolicus may 

 need separate names. And hybridisation on any large scale is 

 not proved and is highly improbable. 



Parent birds must meet somewhere to produce a hybrid, 

 and the ranges of the parent species must be very close 

 together in order to allow them to meet often in the case of 

 such sedentary birds as Pheasants. Certainly Ph. zarudnyi 

 is somewhat intermediate between Ph. principalis komarowi 

 and Ph. zerafshanicus (not Ph. chrysomelas), but an 

 evolutionist should find a more plausible explanation of the 

 fact, instead of inventing the somewhat ridiculous hypothesis 

 that a fairly vast area is inhabited exclusively by hybrids. 

 From Chardjui to Petro-Alexanrlrovsk, a distance of some 

 370 kilom. in a straight line, neither Ph. principalis typicus, 

 nor Ph. princ. komarowi, nor Ph. zerafshanicus are met with, 

 and very few (if, indeed, any) Ph. chrysomelas. So we may 

 take it for granted that Ph. zarudnyi — whatever pedigree it 

 might have had in epochs long ago — propagates now inter se 

 and breeds true. 



9. Phasiaxus zerafshanicus Tarnovski. (Zerafshan 

 Pheasant.) 



Ph. zerafshanicus : 1891, Tarnovski, Field, lxxvii. p. 409 ; 

 1893, Ogilvie-Grant, Catal. p. 326. 



Ph. klossowskii : 1891, Tarnovski, I.e.; 1896, Zarudny, 

 Orn. Faun. Transcasp. (russ.), p. 4-83. 



Ph. principalis, var. klossowskii : 1891, Zarudny, Note on 

 a new Subspecies of Pheasant (Russ.), p. 1. 



Ph. taruovskii : 1892, Seebohm, P. Z. S. p. 271. 



Ph. zarafschanicus : 1903, Dresser, Man. p. 661 (subsp. of 

 Ph. persicus) . 



The Zerafshan Pheasant has been rather unfortunate in its 



