200 REMARKS UPON PHASIANUS INSIGNIS. 



feather is drawn down over the white shoulder, so as to 

 make it as conspicuous as possible. The centre of this 

 along" the shaft for two-thirds its length is entirely black. 

 Now I do not know another species of true Pheasant, by which 

 I mean those species restricted to the genus Phasianus, that has 

 this character — this part of the same feathers in all of them, 

 except insignis, being white or buff, and this difference alone 

 is sufficient to detect insignis at once. It was the first point 

 examined by me when I saw the specimens brought by M. 

 Severstov, and I found them the same as the one exhibited 

 so prominently in my plate. If P. chrysomelas is distinct 

 from P. insignis, it will be very difficult, I think, to define 

 wherein they differ in the color of their bodies, and the 

 ring on the neck is evidently not always present, as proved by 

 M. Severstov's specimens. The black centres of the feathers, 

 mentioned above, probably escaped Mr. Gould's attention, as he 

 does not mention them in his article. 



The under tail-coverts of insignis are chestnut, tips washed 

 with sliming green, those of Shawl are red. Dr. Scully's ex- 

 amples did not have this metallic lustre, which might have shaken 

 his view as to insignis being present among his specimens, 

 though perhaps young birds may not exhibit much of it. The 

 feathers of the breast of insignis are so broadly tipped with 

 metallic green as to give to this part the appearance of being 

 almost wholly of this colour ; that of Shawi is chestnut, the 

 feathers margined with blue, but in contradistinction to insignis ; 

 the general appearance is chestnut with a metallic lustre. 

 The tails of the two species are totally different; that of P. 

 Shawi being rufous brown with black cross bars next the shaft, 

 but not on the same line on both webs, continued to the outer edge 

 by a chestnut bar. The rectrices of P. insignis are reddish- 

 brown, barred regularly with black ; these bars much narrower 

 and more numerous than those of Shaioi. 



I think the above points are sufficient to enable any one to 

 recognise the two species. That there are two M. Severstov's 

 perfect specimens completely demonstrate, and causes Mr. Gould's 

 effort to prove the contrary by publishing Dr. Scully's article 

 entire, rather amusing, and I am the more gratified that it 

 has been proved they exist, from the fact, that when I described 

 them, with the exception of Mr. Wolf, not many of my brother 

 ornithologists in England, I believe, thought that there were 

 really two species among the specimens brought by Mr. Shaw. 



I am not indebted to M. Severstov's specimens in any way for 

 the characters here given, but they are those originally observed 

 in the types of my species, which are now in the collection 

 of the Royal Zoological Museum at Stuttgart, Wurtemburg. 



