CHAPTEE XVI. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT 

 (CONTINUED). 



THE PEINCB OF WALES'S PHEASANT {PHA8IANU8 

 PRINCIPALIS). 



^'N April, 1885, Mr. Sclater exhibited at the Zoo- 

 ,„ logical Society skins of a pair of pheasants brought 

 W^ from Bala Murghab, North Afghanistan, belonging^ 

 to the Prince of Wales, and read extracts relating t(> 

 the specimens from a letter addressed by Mr. Condie 

 Stephen to Sir Dighton Probyn. 

 " These pheasants," writes Mr. Stephen, " abound in the 

 reeds fringing this river, rising in places in far larger numbers- 

 than I have seen at any battue in England. You can imagine- 

 what a quantity there must be from the fact that we killed 

 more than four hundred on our march of thirty miles up the- 

 river, mostly cocks." 



The living specimens, which were subsequently received 

 in the gardens, and from which the engraving was taken, 

 were obtained by Major Peacock from the Afghan frontier,, 

 but in consequence of their being received in very poor- 

 condition, they all died without having produced a,ny young. 



The most important characteristic of this fine bird, 

 and one that distinguishes it from all the pheasants first 

 naturalised in this country, is that the wing coverts are white,, 

 a character which it has in common with the Mongolian 

 pheasant, P. mongolicus ; but it differs in the markings and 



