Vol. XXXV.] 138 



Southern Mexico, where the nearest allied species live, 

 is extremely moist, and, therefore, as in the case of the 

 Fuerteventuran Bustard, there is evidently something more 

 to be considered than the question of drought or moisture. 



Mr. Stuart Baker cited the remarkable instance of the 

 Kalij and Silver Pheasants, in which a gradual transition could 

 be traced from a practically black bird to a practically white 

 one. There were three apparent species dealt with which 

 looked extremely different from one another, viz., the Black 

 Kalij T\lea.fia.\^t (GenrKBus horsfieldi) ; the Grey Vermiculated 

 Pheasant (G. llneatus), and the practically white Silver Pheasant 

 {G. nycthemerus). These birds looked remarkedly distinct, 

 but if one examined all the forms found in the intervening 

 countries between their habitats, it would be found that 

 th.ey could be entirely linked up and merged gradually into 

 one another. The connecting-links between G. horsfieldi 

 and G. lineatus were G. cuvieri and G. oatesi on the west of 

 the triangle and G. sharpei, G. rufipes, and allied forms on 

 the east — these latter gradually merging into the typical 

 Silver Pheasant, G. nycthemerus. 



Mr. Baker gave instances of the remarkable correlation 

 between the variations in plumage in the genus Gennaus 

 and the degrees of elevation, drought, and rainfall in the 

 countries they inhabited, more especially as regarded the 

 gradations of plumage shown between the almost black 

 G. horsfieldi in the south-east of India, the grey G. lineatus 

 in the south of Burma, and the nearly white Silver 

 Pheasants of Western Burma and China. He exhibited a 

 series of beautifully executed drawings by Mr. H. Gron- 

 vold, illustrating the differences alluded to *. 



Mr. Baker said that it was not known with certainty that 

 any Silver Pheasant was found further south than G. lineatus, 

 but Mr. Ogilvie-Grant pointed out that, during Mr. H. C. 

 Robinson's exploration of Gunong Tahan in the Malay 

 Peninsula, he had come across, on the higher parts of the 



* {.^f- Ogilvie-Grant, 'Game-Birds,' i. pp. 265-69, with sketch-map, 

 ] 895.— Ed.] 



