PHASIANUS SHAWI AND PHASIANUS INSIGNIS, ELLIOT. 435 



(1.) Three specimens of P. insignia had a narrow half 

 collar of white almost continuous at the back of the neck. 

 This was interesting" as bearing on Mr. Elliot's statement 

 that the bird was allied to P. mongolicus ; but was of no 

 value as a distinctive character, as it was not constant, and 

 besides one of the Shawi series showed the beginning of this 

 white streak also. 



(2.) The shaft of the tail feathers in one P. Shaioi was 

 alternately dusky and yellowish white ; in P. insignis it was 

 dusky throughout. Now I thought if this be only constant 

 throughout the two series it will, taken with 



(3.) The one marked point — the abrupt termination of 

 the green of the neck, so well shown in Elliot's figure of P. 

 Shawi, though not exactly mentioned by him in words — 

 satisfy one that there are two species of Pheasants in Yar- 

 kand. 



To test this I began to draw the birds out of their covers : 

 the first had the shaft variegated, and on turning it round to 

 look at the breast it proved to he Shmoi; the second gave a 

 like result ; the third showed the shaft of the tail feathers 

 dusky throughout, and the characters of insignis as to breast 

 (this became exciting) ; the fourth had the shaft dusky and 



yellowish and the breast Eh! What? insignis or 



Shawi ? I rushed to the window to get a good light on the 

 subject : mortifying result ! It was impossible to tell by its 

 breast whether it were Shawi or insignis — it was inter- 

 mediate. Another specimen was tried ; it had the tail shaft 

 dusky throughout and it was also intermediate as to the 

 breast. It must be given up ! I have only one species re- 

 presented by my entire series of specimens. 



It seems scarcely possible that there should be really two 

 species of Pheasants in Yarkand, and that during a residence 

 of ten months there I should only have come across one of 

 them ; besides, as I have explained above, I really think that 

 I have some of the birds in the slightly different states of 

 plumage which are shown in Mr. Elliot's two plates. Now I 

 know by the dates on the tickets of my specimens that this 

 slight variation is not due to season, and I can therefore only 

 suggest that it may be a question of age — a view which the 

 length of the spurs seems to confirm. The heads of the birds 

 are alike, so are the measurements, and intermediate forms 

 occur ; but as I feel sure Mr. Elliot must have had some 

 weighty reason for making two species out of the skins he 

 received, I should be glad to know what the distinctions on 

 which he relies really are. If there really are two species I 

 can only say that they so closely resemble each other as to 

 make it impossible to discriminate them without being told in 



