]b85.] MR. p. L. SCLATER ON A NEW PHEASANT. 323 



guessed that there was no white ring present. He had not, however, 

 quite correctly restored the colours of the head, which more 

 nearly resemhles that of Ph. colchicus, as would be seen by the 

 figure (Plate XXII.). Mr. Sclater read the following extracts from 

 a letter addressed by Mr. Coiidie Stephen to Lt.-Gren. Sir Dighton 

 Probyn (dated Bala Murghab, Jan. 9th, 1885) relating to these 

 specimens : — 



" During my visit to Sandringham last winter, I alluded in con- 

 versation to the Pheasants which I had seen on my last journey in 

 these regions, mentioning the richness of their plumage and their 

 peculiarly white wings ; and the Prince of Wales did me the 

 honour of inquiring whether there was any possibility of conveying 

 live specimens to England. 



" Owing to the difficulties of communication and the great distance, 

 I find it would be impossible to send any live ones home. But as 

 the Prince of Wales was so good as to take an interest in the matter, 

 I venture to send by messenger leaving for London to-morrow, 

 preserved specimens of a cock and hen for submission to His 

 Royal Highness. Dr. Aitchison, the naturalist accompanying the 

 Afghan Frontier Commission, states that these Pheasants are sui 

 generis, and that the colouring of the cock bird is peculiarly varied. 

 They abound in the reeds fringing this river, rising in places in far 

 larger numbers than I have seen at any battue in England. You 

 can imagine what a quantity there must be from the fact that we 

 killed more than 400 on our march of 30 miles up the river, 

 mostly cocks. 



". P.S. (May 7th, I8S5). — Since I exhibited the Pheasants above 

 mentioned I have an opportunity, through Mr. Seebohni's kindness, 

 of comparing them with the fine series of specimens of Asiatic 

 Phasiani in his collection, and have been obliged to modify my 

 conclusions as to the determination of this bird. Phasianus insignis 

 of Elliot, according to Mr. J. Scully, who has himself met with this 

 form in Kashgaria, is not really different from Phasianus shawi of 

 the same country, to which, indeed, the present bird has many points 

 of resemblance. 



" On comparing it, however, with one of Mr. Scully's skins of 

 Ph. shnwi, obtained in Yarkand in March 1875, now in Mr. See- 

 bohm's collection, we find the upper surfaces of the two birds nearly 

 ahke, with tlie excejition of the pronounced white wings of the 

 present bird. On the under surface, however, the bird from Murg- 

 hab is at once observed to differ in having the feathers of the sides 

 of the belly broadly tipped with bright purplish black. These 

 broad margins are also continued over the whole of the middle of 

 the belly, where they assume a strong golden red colour, the centre 

 of each feather having a more yellowish tinge. The black central 

 patch of the belly seen in Ph. shawi is also hardly apparent at all in 

 the Murghab bird. 



" Another ally of the Murghab Pheasant is the Ph. persicus of 

 Severtzoff, shortly described in 'The Ibis,' 1875, p. 494. Of this 



