Distribution of the True Pheasants. 407 



I cannot trace its limits with certainty. To the north-west 

 and north the deserts of Ala-shan and Mongolia probably 

 form its boundary, though in the St. Petersburg Museum 

 there is a specimen of this Pheasant, labelled " Khara-Khere 

 in Uliassutai, June, 1879" (received from the late Mr. 

 Pewtzovv, who, perhaps, had only purchased it near Uliassutai, 

 N.W. Mongolia, a place situated on the caravan-road from 

 Kuku-Khota to Kobdo). In the east the mountains of 

 Shansi (inhabited by Ph. reevesi) probably form a boundary 

 between Ph. holdereri and Ph. kiangsuensis, its eastern 

 representative. West it extends through S. Kau-su, where, 

 however, it must be very rare, as Mr. M. M. Berezowskv did 

 not meet with it, and Mr. Holderer brought home only a single 

 specimen of it from Min-tchow *. Here it is more or less 

 replaced by the ringless Ph. strauchi and Ph.berezowskyi. To 

 the south it extends to the banks of the Yang-tsi-kiang, but 

 whether its range coalesces there with those of its southern ally 

 Ph. gmelini and the ringless Ph. decollatus I cannot say. 



The distinguishing characters of this Pheasant (see my 

 synoptical table above, p. 384) were first pointed out by 

 David and Oustalet. I have seen two specimens in the 

 Academy's Museum, one already mentioned and the other 

 labelled " Altan-Khorgoltai, S.W. from Kuku-Khota" (near 

 the north-eastern bend of Hoang-ho). It is most probably 

 only a subspecies of the narrow-collared East-Chinese 

 Pheasants, lacking the superciliaries, and more nearly allied 

 to the grey-winged Ph. kiangsuensis than to the somewhat 

 pale-coloured Ph. gmelini. Dr. Schalow holds it specifically 

 distinct from his Ph. torquatus (not mentioning the localitv 

 of this last) ; but his Ph. torquatus is probably a bird from 

 the Amoor (Ph. alpherakyi) , which is doubtless specificallv 

 distinct from Ph. holdereri as well as from Ph. kiangsuensis 

 and Ph. gmelini. 



24. Phasianus holdekeri kiangsuensis, subsp. nov. 

 ( East-Chinese Pheasant.) 



Ph. torquatus : 1861, Swinhoe, Ibis, p. 341 (pt., Pe-che-li) ; 



* One place of this name is situated on the borders of the Amdo Plateau 

 and the Chinese lowland ; and there are others in southern Kan-su. 



