Distribution of the True Pheasants. 401 



by Gmelin, names various provinces of China and Mongolia. 

 Evidently it is quite impossible to decide what sort of bird 

 Gmelin's Ph. torquatus was. Mr. Rothschild and many 

 others think that his type was a South-Chinese bird. 

 Seebohm and Bianchi are inclined to take the N.E. Mongolian 

 bird as typical, but all this remains and must remain only 

 guesswork, and " Ph. torquatus " of Gmelin can only be 

 cited as a " synonym in partibus " under Ph. alpherakyi, 

 Ph kiangsuensis, and Ph. gmelini. 



Recent authors have mentioned under Gmelin's name 

 several quite distinct species, as North Manchoorian Ph. 

 alpherakyi cannot be considered as nonspecific with the 

 Eastern and Southern Chinese Ring-Pheasants. Not only is 

 it quite different in general colour, being very pale even iii 

 comparison with moderately bright examples of Ph. gmelini 

 from Poo-chow, but several other sharply marked characters 

 distinguish it — for instance, the uninterrupted broad collar, 

 the white post-ocular patch, &c. ; and there are no inter- 

 mediate forms, as the other pale-coloured Ring-Pheasants, 

 which inhabit far remote areas, do not share in these 

 characters, but possess their own features which arc quite 

 as sharply defined. 



Last, but not least, Mr. Rothschild's well-chosen name 

 " Ph. pallasi " must unfortunately be declined, as being 

 unmistakably based on two distinct species. 



Mr. Rothschild gives as the range of his Ph. torquatus 

 mongolicus (subsequently renamed by him Ph. torquatus 

 pallasi) "N.E. Mongolia, Amur, and Corea/' and his de- 

 scription confirms the fact that he had before him both 

 Pheasants from Amoorlaud, my Ph. alpherakyi or its eastern 

 form, so well described by Pallas, and Pheasants from Corea, 

 described by me some months ago under the name Ph. 

 karpou-i. Mr. Rothschild's description is as follows : — 



" Crown and occiput olive-brown instead of olive-green 

 [as in Shanghai birds, my Ph. kiangsuensis'] , this point fits 

 more or less both the Amoor and Corean birds; the super- 

 ciliary stripes are very broad, uniting on the forehead, and 

 of a brownish-buff colour mixed with buti'y white, instead 



