JORET'S KOKLASS PHEASANT 



Pucrasia xmtthospila joretiana Heude 



GENERAL ACCOUNT AND DESCRIPTION 



In a letter dated January 20, 1883, sent to the " Ibis," P^re Heude writes : " Vous 

 serez peut-^tre content d'apprendre que j'ai un nouveau Pucrasia. Je une propose de la 

 publier sous le nom de P. joretiana. II diff^re des Pucrasiae ddcrits en ce qu'il n'a pas 

 de brun ni de roux dans le plumage, soit au cou, soit aux ailes, soit aux sous-caudales. 

 II est de la taille du P. xanthospila!' 



No further mention, however, was made of this pheasant until thirty years later, 

 when the bird was figured in the " Ibis " with a r4sttmd of its characters. 



It appears to be a closely related offshoot of the Yellow-necked Koklass with strong 

 leanings in the direction of Darwin's Koklass ; exactly what we should be led to expect 

 from its geographical position. The two characters in which' it departs most widely 

 from xanthospila are the shortness of the crest and the absence of the yellow nuchal 

 zone. Both of these characters, however, are strongly hinted at in xanthospila, where 

 in a large series of specimens we find the crest of greatly varying length and compactness, 

 and the yellow cape ranging from a strong bright straw-yellow area to a few faint 

 yellowish streaks on the upper mantle. In joretiana we have a complete vindication of 

 the assertion that the posterior part of the Koklass crest is a true crest and not 

 " feather ears," which has so often been falsely delineated as two separate erect tufts. 



The differences between joretiana and darwini are much more apparent. Most 

 important is the double, not quadruple, pattern of the mantle and sides, a character 

 which, in the classification I have adopted, throws the form at once into the xanthospila 

 group. The ventral chestnut is darker and richer than in the more southern Koklass, 

 while the under tail-coverts and central tail-feathers have no wide chestnut margin, but 

 are wholly black and white. 



The male type now in the British Museum shows the following measurements : 

 wing, 225 mm. ; tail, 200 ; tarsus, 70 ; middle toe and claw, 68. 



The characters of this form of Koklass were first observed by the Rev. P. Heude, 

 who named it provisionally after one of his missionary colleagues, the Rev. H. Joret, 

 who procured the first specimen. 



Joret's Koklass has been found to inhabit the mountainous region around Hoshan, 

 in the western part of the province of Anhwei. It occurs at an altitude of two to five 

 thousand feet. Thus its range is midway between xanthospila to the north and 

 darwini in the more southern provinces. 



SYNONYMY 



Pucrasia joretiana Heude, Ibis, 1883, p. 225; Sclater, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club., XXXI. 1912, p. 7; Courtois, 

 Ibis, 191 3, p. 14. 



Pucrasia xanthospila joretiana Beebe, Zoologica, I., No. 15, 1914, p. 278. 



Pucrasia darwini joretiana Baker, Jour. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, XXV. 1918, p. 523. 



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