MENDEMSM TN PHEASANTS. 281 



Tekkes Valley, Hi, alt. 3000 ft. This bird lias the white three- 

 quarters collar broken at the throat, and also the major, median, 

 and minor wing-coverts of isabelline- white. This isabelline- 

 white wing-patch has not been observed on any of the male 

 common wood-pheasants examined from 1912 to 1914, but it is 

 quite possible that its occurrence amongst our hybrids may have 

 been noticed by others. 



The major, median, and minor wing-coverts in P . formosanus — 

 a variety of torquatus n\no often introduced into our coverts — are 

 pale grey, and this colour was frequently found amongst the 

 hybrid males examined. 



Mr. Douglas Oarruthers, who is now bringing out a work on 

 the fauna of North-west Mongolia and the Dzungaria, replied to 

 my inquiry as follows : — " I do not recollect ever collecting a wild 

 pheasant with a complete ling, nor do I believe that there are 

 any. Badly made up skins can often give the idea of a ring 

 joining up the front, for the white feathers can be pulled round 

 so as to meet. The rings varied in breadth and whiteness, but 

 none formed the complete circle." 



It thus seemed fairly established, from the specimens in the 

 Natural History Museum and the observations of these two 

 experienced travellers, that a pheasant with a complete ring in the 

 wild state had not been recorded. 



Mr. Fenwick-Owen, however, supplied me with an interesting 

 series of observations on a new variety of pheasant he shot in 

 1912 in the Ohone district of the province of Kansu, on the 

 Peling Mountains. This pheasant was classified as a new form 

 of the P. torquatus group by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant and named 

 Phasianus stranchi chonensis. 



Mr. Fenwick-Owen also shot P. elegans, a dark-necked (collar 

 absent) pheasant in the Ohone district ; and in the neighbouring 

 province of Sechuan, Prejevalsky, a Russian, first found a three- 

 quarters ring-necked pheasant named P. sechuanensis. The 

 habitats of P. elegans and P. sechuanensis overlap. 



In a letter to Fenwick-Owen dated November 18th, 1912, 

 Ogilvie-Grant remarks on certain resemblances in P. stranchi 

 chonensis to both P. sechuanensis and P. elegans. 



In Mr. Fenwick-0 wen's words : — " In P, stranchi chonensis the 

 ring varies from the faintest suspicion of a ring to the complete 

 full ring. Occasionally there is no sign of a ring at all." 



These remarks suggest that a hybrid segregation similar to that 

 found in our own coverts is taking place in a wild state — that, in 

 fact, his new pheasant may be the result of a cross between the 

 "dark-necked," collar absent, P. elegans and the "ring-necked," 

 collar present, P. sechuanensis, whose habitats overlap. 



The following short descriptions of characters found in P. elegans 

 resembling P. colchicics, and of characters found in P. sechuanensis 

 resembling P. formosanus, the form of torquatus peculiar to the 

 island of Formosa, made from a brief inspection of these species 



