316 Zoological N. Y. Zoological Society. [I; 17 



ing down hill. The second time I had my gun and 

 secured it at once. It proved to be a very dark rep- 

 resentative of what has been called ripponi, but dif- 

 fering in having greenish, instead of scarlet legs and 

 feet. 



All this astounding variety of Kaleege I found with- 

 in two miles of the dak bungalow at Pungatong, asso- 

 ciating together, and, as I have said, with satisfactory 

 evidence of being in families. Even if the birds were 

 of no immediate relationship however, the fact of their 

 remarkable variation is none the less indicative of 

 hybridism. This is typical of what I found to exist 

 in other parts of Burma. The Arrakan country and 

 Annam I did not visit and hence I cannot speak at 

 first hand with regard to the birds which inhabit 

 those regions. 



All the specimens which I gathered in northern Burma 

 tend to exhibit this individual variation and blending of char- 

 acters, and in all my observations there is nothing to show any 

 pronounced uniformity in the forms I have mentioned. But 

 while thus being compelled to consider these as unworthy of 

 specific validity, there is an interesting phase of the subject in 

 regard to certain of the other forms. Some of these Pheasants 

 which apparently owe their peculiar color and pattern to the 

 crossing of two feral species, seem to have found more or 

 less isolated regions where they have become established. They 

 thus do not transgress the rule of each species being confined 

 to its individual range. It would seem that a saltation of sorts 

 must have entered into these cases, to fix the evanescent hy- 

 bridic characters, but this we can at present only surmise. It 

 is difficult to know exactly how to treat these, but inasmuch as 

 they have usurped a comparatively large extent of country, and 

 within its limits seem to breed fairly true, I see no reason why, 

 tentatively at least, they should not be recognized, their mode 

 of origin being kept always in mind. As far as I know, up to the 

 present time, there has never been intentional recognition of wild 

 hybrids as species, but if any of the four forms which I mention 

 ultimately prove to breed true over a definite extent of country. 



