Distribution of the True Pheasants. 395 



sandy-winged Ph. tarimensis. It is not improbable that 

 Ph. shawi is subspecifically differentiated in some parts of 

 its vast range, and possibly Ph. insignis is slightly distinct, 

 but further material is required to decide these points. 



13. Phasiaxus mongolicus Brandt. {Kirghiz Pheasant.) 



Ph. torquatus: 1841, Karelin, Bull. S. N. Mosc. p. 561 

 (Tarbagatai) (nee Gniel., 1788). 



Ph. mongolicm: 1844, Brandt, Bull. Ac. Sc. St. P. iii. 

 p. 51 (Altai) ; 1891, Alpheraky, Kuldja and Tian-Shan 

 (Russ.), pp. 5, 17, 19, 22, 29, 48, 89, 98, 153 ; 1899, Kozlow, 

 Results of the I. R. G. S. Expedition in C. Asia, 1893-95 

 (Russ.), ii. p. 5 ; 1903, Dresser, Man. p. 665 (pt., cum turces- 

 taaica are). 



Ph. brandti : 1901, Rothschild, Bull. B. O. C. vol. xii. p. 20 

 (withdrawn in 1903 by the author). 



Ph. mongo/icas was named, as is often the case, somewhat 

 on the lucus a non lucendu principle, as it does not inhabit 

 Mongolia, but the Kirghiz country in the north-eastern parts 

 of Russian Turkestan (province of Semiretshensk and part of 

 Semipalatinsk) and the Chinese province of Kuldja, that is 

 the basins of Lakes Issyk-kul, Balkash, Ala-kul, and Zaisan, 

 with their trihutaries. About 48° to 48i° N. is its northern 

 limit ; to the east it ranges in the Tian-Shan high up into 

 the valleys of Tekes and Kunges, tributaries of the Hi. 



On the south-east the Tian-Shan serves as the boundary 

 between pur bird and Ph. shawi, on the south-west the 

 Alexander and Karatau Mountains form a similar boundary 

 between it and Ph. turcestanicus. On the east, parts of the 

 Tian-Shan, Alatau, and Tarbagatai ranges separate it from 

 the closely allied Ph. semitorquatus, and on the north-east the 

 Ektagh Altai divides it from Ph. hagenbecki, which belongs to 

 the eastern grey-rumped group of Pheasants. Whether it is 

 limited on the west by the Muiun-Kum sands and the steppe 

 of Hunger, I cannot say. In the southern part of the 

 Turgai Province Pheasants are found (M. X. Ariatow, in 

 litt.), but not having yet received skins, I cannot decide 

 whether they belong to this or to the following form. 



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