1914] Beebe: Preliminary Pheasant Studies. 263 



that the best of such characters is only a make-shift, a mere 

 tentative bridge to tide over both our ignorance and the gaps 

 made by time and space in the successiqn of organic forms. 

 If tomorrow a more consistent, logical factor be discovered, 

 I shall discard the tail moult without a regret. It seems to 

 serve for the present, as being consistent throughout the 

 family, and more fundamental than some other characters. 

 Quite significant and confirmatory is the fact that, instead of 

 inaugurating wholly new arrangements and juxtapositions of 

 genera, it corresponds in a general way with the classifications, 

 more or less theoretical, of earlier taxonomists. 



While one would think that the Tragopans were pheasants 

 rather than partridges, using the former term in the usual loose 

 way, yet when we compare them with other genera on the border 

 line, we find that there is no reason, either of sexual difference 

 in coloration, elaborateness of courtship or other feature which 

 actually sets them apart. Arboricola, Rollulus, Melanoperdix, 

 Ptilopachys, Bambusicola, Galliperdix, Ithaginis, — all have been 

 considered too near the border line, and too much alike, to be 

 separated from the pheasants by any line of distinction. And 

 yet the pheasants as a group, and on the other hand the quail and 

 partridges as a group, are in our minds, very distinct in a gener- 

 al way. So even if Tragopan has to be sacrificed, it has seemed 

 worth while to recognize this sharp line of demarkation, falling 

 between Tragopan and Lophophorus, which the tail moult offers, 

 as at least the best division character yet available, for the 

 marking off of sub-family groups. 



In connection with the moult of the tail. Dr. Bureau writes 

 of Perdix cinerea^ : "II est bon de faire remarquer que la chute 

 et le remplacement des rectrices se font tres regulierement de 

 dedans en dehors, c'est-a-dire du milieu de la queue vers le bord 

 externe." This I found to be invariably the case both with 

 Ithaginis arid Tragopan, that the moult of the tail begins with 

 the central rectrices and proceeds regularly outward. Although 

 I have not been able to examine all of the twenty-odd genera 

 associated with Perdix, such as Caccabis, Francolinus, Arbori- 

 cola, Coturnix, etc., I am satisfied that this character holds good 

 throughout and would therefore class Ithaginis and Tragopan 



1. I'Age des Perdrix, I. p. 70. ("P. cinerea" = P. perdix.) 



