SYR-DARIA RING-NECKED PHEASANT 



Phasianus colchictis turcestanicus Lorenz 



Names.— Subspecific : turcestanicus, from Turkestan. English : Turkestan or Syr-Daria Pheasant. 



Type.— Locahty : Syr-Daria. Describer : Lorenz. Place of Description : Orn. Mon., 1896, p. 189. 



Subspecific Characters.— Male : White collar quite or nearly complete in front ; mantle, chest and dark 

 spots on flanks with bluish and violet gloss. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



Russian Turkestan, from the north-eastern shores of the Aral Sea, south-east 

 along the valley of the Syr-Daria as far as Gulcha, a valley in the Alai Mountains, 

 about 5,000 feet elevation, and 140 kilometres south of Osk. 



The range of the Syr-Daria Pheasant is bordered by parts of the Tian-Shan and 

 Alai Mountains on the south-east, and by the Alai and Gissar Mountains on the south. 

 These chains of mountains separate it from shawi, bianchii and zerafshanicus. On the 

 west the Kysil-Kum Desert divides it from ckrysomelas, although their ranges appear 

 to meet on the shore of the Aral. On the north-east the Karatan, Alexander and 

 Terskentan Mountains form the limits of its range, and present more or less of a 

 barrier between it and the closely allied mongolicus. 



SYNONYMY 



Phasianus colchicus Lichtenstein, Naturh. Anh. to Eversmann's Reisen Buchar, 1823, p. 133 (Kuwan-Darja, 

 lan-Darja), nee Linnaeus, 1758); Eversmann, Natural History of the Orenburg Country (Russ.), III. 1866, p. 350 

 (var. torque colli alba, Aral). 



Phasianus mongolicus Sewertzow, Vertic. and Horizont. Dist. of Turkestan Animals (Russ.) in Trans, I. 

 S.F.N.A.E., v., VIII. 1873, p. 6'^ (nee Brandt, 1844); Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXII. 1893, P- 328 (nee 

 Brandt) (partim) ; Stolzmann, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc, I. 1897, p. 78 (nee Brandt) ; Dresser, Manual Palae. Birds, II. 

 1903, p. 665 {cum mongolicus). 



Phasianus mongolicus turcestanicus Lorenz, Orn. Mon., 1896, p. 189 (Syr-Daria); Buturlin, Ibis, 1904, p. 396, 

 (Russian Turkestan, along the valley of the Syr-Daria) ; Lonnberg, Arkiv. Zool., II. 1905, pp. 7-9; Buturlin, Ibis, 

 1908, pp. 585, 589. 



Phasianus mongolicus bergii Zarudny, Mess. Ornith,, V. 1916, p. 227. 



Phasianus colchicus turcestanicus Hartert, Nov. Zool, XXIV. 191 7, p. 451. 



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