LIST OF COLOURED PLATES ix 



Plate LV. KWEICHOW PHEASANT Phasiamis colchicus decollatus Swinhoe 



Painted by H. Jones. Facing page no 



Occurring as far south as Tongking, this pheasant ranges higher than the more northern 

 forms, and has been observed at an elevation of nine thousand feet. It seems to prefer bushy 

 slopes to the dense forest. It differs from the pheasants to the east and north chiefly by the 

 lack of a white collar, although traces of this are sometimes present. 



Plate LVI. FORMOSAN RING-NECKED PHEASANT Phasiamis colchicus 



formosanus Elliot . . . . . . , . Facing page 112 



Pai?ited by H. Jones. 



As the island of Formosa is over one hundred miles from shore, and as this pheasant differs 

 from those on the neighbouring mainland only by the usually paler plumage, it is probable that 

 it is more or less of a recent introduction. The cocks show considerable variation among 

 themselves and the females are quite indistinguishable from the birds of the eastern Chinese 

 Provinces. 



Plate LVII. MANCHURIAN RING-NECKED PHEASANT Phasianus colchicus 



pallasi Rothschild ....... Facing page 114 



Painted by H. Jones. 



This pheasant, from the far north-east of China, possesses the widest and most complete 

 white collar. It is never found high up on the mountains, but usually on the more sheltered 

 lower slopes or on the flat bushy plains. 



Plate LVIII. KOBDO PHEASANT Phasianus colchicus hagenbecki Rothschild 



Painted by H. Jones. Facing page 1 16 



Little is known of this form from the Kobdo valley. It very closely resembles pallasi, 

 fifteen hundred miles to the east, while to the west it is separated from mongolicus by only a 

 single range of mountains, yet it differs radically in colour from that form. 



Plate LIX. EASTERN CHINESE RING-NECKED PHEASANT Phasianus 



colchicus torquatus Gmelin ...... Facing page 120 



Painted by H. Jones. 



This is the Ring-necked Pheasant which has been introduced so widely into America and, 

 especially in the west, has increased so that it has to be kept down to prevent damage to crops. 



Its habits in general throughout the east of China, from Pekin to Canton, differ not at 

 all from those of the birds in our own country. They feed morning and evening, rest during 

 the middle of the day, roost on the ground, lay six to twelve eggs on debris in grassy or shrubby 

 places. The young birds acquire the adult plumage the first autumn. As many as eighteen 

 hundred and one have been shot in twenty-three days on the Yangtse. 



PCate LX. green JAPANESE PHEASANT Phasianus versicolor Vielllot 



Painted by H. Jones. Facing page 1 30 



This is the second full species of its genus, found only in Japan, and showing remarkable 

 little variation. As it prefers lowlands to the slopes of mountains, it is seldom found far away 

 from the coast, and it chooses to visit the gardens of the farms rather frequently. 



The last view I had of Kiji in their native home was on a perfect day in Kagoghima. I 

 was returning from a long day's tramp after Ijima's Copper Pheasants, when for a few minutes 

 a splendid cock Green Pheasant stood outlined at the summit of a gentle rise. The setting 

 was : the deep blue waters of the bay, the pale blue of the sky, the clear green of graceful, 

 aged pines, while over all towered the majestic, purpled cone of Sakuragima. 



