STRAY FEATHERS. 



Vol. III.] DECEMBER, 1875. [No 6. 



JJasmims J&Jafoi anb flmstanits tnsipis, €Uiot. 



By J. Scully. 



During my residence in Eastern Turkestan I had abundant 

 opportunities of observing the Yarkand Pheasant; I saw at 

 least from thirty to forty of these birds alive, kept some in 

 confinement for months, and have lately been looking over a 

 series of twenty-four skins — nine in my own collection and fifteen 

 belonging to Mr. R. B. Shaw. While in Kashgharia I often 

 tried to make out whether there were two species of Pheasants 

 there, but as I was not aware of the precise grounds on which 

 Mr. Elliot had separated the birds, I could not very well 

 decide ; my impression, however, was certainly in favor of 

 one species only. I heard that the distinction was supposed 

 to be the extent to which the breast feathers were edged 

 with green, but as hardly two birds could be found exactly 

 alike in the matter of this edging, I felt satisfied that the 

 species must have been founded on something much more 

 definite and constant than that character. 



On going over my specimens a few days ago with Mr. 

 Hume, that gentleman expressed his opinion that all my 

 skins belonged to one species ; although he pointed out that 

 one of the birds had less green on the chest than the others. 

 I then examined Mr. Shaw's collection, and found that three of 

 his birds corresponded with the one noted by Mr. Hume, and 

 this determined me to look at Mr. Elliot's work to see what he 

 had said about the matter. 



The first point that struck me in regard to the plates of 

 Phasianus insignis and P. Shawi in Mr. Elliot's magnificent 

 work was that both the birds were erroneously represented as 

 havino* conspicuous red lappets or wattles, which the Yarkand 

 Pheasant certainly never has at any season ; the head should 

 have been represented like that of P. colchicus, with a bare 

 crimson orbital skin always at a lower level than the feathers of 

 the cheek. The second piece of information I derived from the 

 plates was that the bird, having the green of the neck sharply 

 terminated at the upper breast, was the one called P. Shawi, 



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