July 22, 1922] 



NA TURE 



105 



present ; those who paid the taxes were also those 

 who imposed them. . . . Sound finance benefited the 

 whole population by keeping credit high, interest low, 

 and taxation light. Political life was purer than it 

 had been, and purer probably than it is now. The 

 House of Commons enjoyed that immense prestige 

 which has been completely lost since the old Queen's 

 death." 



With regard to the intellectual and spiritual move- 

 ments of her reign the Dean, if not exactly eulogistic, 

 is at least more commendatory, and no part of his 

 lecture affords more delightful reading, or exhibits 

 sounder discrimination, than his account of the 

 literary glories of the Victorian Age. As regards 

 Teligion, he thinks it may be doubted whether organised 

 Christianity has ever been more influential in England 

 than during that period, " before the growth of the 

 towns threw all the Church's machinery out of gear." 

 At the same time, he admits that religious intolerance 

 was very bitter, and only the secular arm stopped a 

 whole series of ecclesiastical prosecutions. " Real 

 hatred was shown against the scientific leaders, which 

 Darwin calmly ignored, and Huxley returned with 

 interest." 



In parting with his subject the Dean, as might 

 be anticipated, strikes no jubilant note. To him 

 the Elizabethan and the Victorian Age appear as 

 the twin peaks of English civilisation. But, he con- 

 cludes, " as regards the fortunes of this country, the 

 signs are that our work on a grand scale, with the 

 whole world as our stage, is probably nearing its end." 

 To which we can only fervently reply, Absit omen. 



Natural History of Pheasants. 



A Monograph of the Pheasants. By William Beebe. 

 In four volumes. Volume III. Pp. xvi + 204 + pl. 

 XLV-LXVIII + photogravure plates 40-60. (Lon- 

 don : published under the auspices of the New York 

 Zoological Society by H. F. and G. Witherby, 1922.) 

 12I. 10s. net. 



THE third volume of this sumptuous work treats 

 of the true pheasants— the genus Phasianus— 

 and of the birds of the allied genera Puchrasia, Catreus, 

 and Syrmaticus. Mr. Beebe has made an extensive 

 study of the genus Phasianus, which embraces the 

 most familiar and important birds dealt with in the 

 monograph. His conclusions, based upon an exhaust- 

 ive examination of numerous specimens, and his unique 

 knowledge of the birds in their native haunts, are of 

 outstanding importance. 



In order to treat clearly of the group, Mr. Beebe has 

 drawn a sharp line of demarcation between Phasiani 

 NO. 2751, VOL. I 10] 



as they exist in their real zone of distribution, and the 

 forms which have been crossed indiscriminately and 

 acclimatised in all parts of the world. At least thirty- 

 five forms have been described as species, or sub-species, 

 or geographical races, according to the personal bias 

 of authors ; but in the evolution of these forms, 

 mutation appears to have played little part, for most 

 of them actually grade into one another, and even in 

 their extremes are separated only by slight differences 

 of colour and pattern. A good deal of individual 

 variation occurs, especially in the more widely dis- 

 tributed forms, and this necessitates changing the 

 status of species in this genus. The genus has usually 

 included more forms than those recognised by the 

 author, who, by consistently applying his criterion 

 of genera — that of geographic non-overlapping — has 

 removed the birds of the genera Syrmaticus and 

 Calophasis from Phasianus, which is thus left " as 

 an exceedingly homogeneous group." 



In addition to a careful comparison of the numerous 

 types and study of their environment, distribution, and 

 barriers, Mr. Beebe has devoted much attention to the 

 classification of the birds of this genus. Two very 

 different lines of observation have contributed much to 

 his ultimate decision. First, the results of a single 

 day's collecting in China revealed, out of four brace 

 of fully adult birds in freshly moulted plumage, several 

 belonging to one covey, three recognisable sub-species, 

 and two undescribed ones were obtained in two 

 moderate-sized rice-fields. The second array of facts 

 is derived from the conditions found among semi-wild 

 hybrids introduced into foreign countries. Thus, at 

 Tring, pheasants of colchicus, torquatus, and even of 

 versicolor blood were turned down. Later a strain of 

 pallasi was introduced, and from this mixture there 

 arose pheasants which were absolutely indistinguish- 

 able from the wild form known as satscheuensis, the 

 home of which is in the heart of China. From scores 

 of similar facts Mr. Beebe has decided to consider 

 every one of the continental forms of Phasianus as 

 sub-species of Phasianus colchicus. The Japanese 

 pheasant (P. versicolor) stands the test of a good 

 species and is the most distinct of all the Phasianus 

 group. 



The distribution of the wild members of the colchicus 

 group extends across Asia, from the Sea of Azof and the 

 Black Sea eastwards to the Sea of Japan — a distance 

 of nearly 5000 miles — and from Manchuria in the north 

 to beyond the Tropic of Cancer. Throughout this wide 

 area they have penetrated into valleys or along moun- 

 tain slopes, sweeping through passes and adapting 

 themselves to semi-arid deserts. 



The typical form of the entire group, the common 

 pheasant, the " Rion Caucasian Pheasant " of the 



