1914] Beebe: Preliminary Pheasant Studies. 265 



feathers outward, and assuming in each case for the sake of 

 simplicity, that there are but six pairs: 



(Inner) ' (Outer) 



I 2 3 4 j 6 



Perdicinae: 1-2-3-4-5-6 | ^ 



Phasianinae: 6-5-4-3-2-1 < 1 



Argusianinae : 3-4-2-5-1-6 < 1 I >► 



Pavoninae: 5-4-3-2-6-1 < 1 |- 



Let me reiterate that I hold this character of tail moult 

 of value only in so far as I have tested it among pheasants. In- 

 deed the more I realize the great number of the factors con- 

 cerned in evolution, the more I appreciate that any classification 

 must finally be the result of a balanced weighing of equally va- 

 ried characters. While tail moult may, and it seems to me, does 

 represent a valuable character in dividing the Phasianidae, it 

 may, on the other hand, be wholly useless in connection with 

 any other family of this order. 



Genus Ithaginis. 



I have little to add to my recent paper on this genus, ^ Fur- 

 ther study of northern specimens has confirmed the conclusions 

 of Bianchi - so that the present status of members of the genus 

 of Blood Pheasants or, as I shall call them. Blood Partridges, 

 is as follows: 



Ithaginis cruentus cruentus (Hardwicke) . 

 Ithaginis cruentus affinis Beebe. 

 Ithaginis geoffroyi Verreaux. 

 Ithaginis kuseri Beebe. 

 Ithaginis sinensis sinensis David. 

 Ithaginis sinensis michaelis Bianchi. 

 Ithaginis sinensis berezowskii Bianchi. 

 Ithaginis wilsoni Thayer and Bangs. 



1. New Blood Pheasants, Zoologica, Vol. I. No. 10. 



2. Annuaire du Mus. I'Acad. Imp. Sci., St Petersburg, t. VIII. p. 1. 



