CHAP ^1^ E n X I 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT 

 ( ( ' X T [ i\ U E D ) . 



THE CHINESE I'HEASAXT (I'nA.SlANf^S 

 TOUQrATI^>S). 



Jlp^'^UXSUL SWINHOE, Mr. Dudley E. Sauriu, Vire 

 * Dn\'itl, Pi-ie\"alski, and otluT naturalists who have 



m^i 



'l<if'^ investigated the fauna ut' the Cliinese empire, 



?j p unite ill cdiihriniiiu- the belief that this pheasant 



l\ (P fiirijii'ihi.-^] is the iiKist coiiinj(.in speeies in China, 



alidunding m vast nnmhers in the liill cuvi rts and 



cotton tields. Mr. tSauriu states: "The common Chinese 



]dieasa.iit is fdiiiid everywhere in the north fif Cliiiii. 1 a.m 



not aware how much further simth they nre found than 



Shanghai ; but in that neighboiirhooJ, since the devastation 



of the couuti'v by the Tai-pings, they are shot b\' liundreds. 



Thousands are broughl down to the Pekin market in a frozen 



state by the ^Mongols, rr(jin as far north as tlii' Amonr. At 



the new l>ussia,n port of I'oussiet, cimtermiuous with the 



Corea, the same plieas;nit aV)oun(ls. I invsell:' have seen them 



wild ill the liiipernd hunting grounds north ol' -leliol, and in 



the nioiintains near Kii-peh-kow." 



Consul Swinhoe sa\ s that it is very cninnion near lliinkow, 

 and at all the places that ha\e been \isited liv Europeans 

 north of tile Va.ngt/,e. Formosa, swarms -with these birds; 

 the specimens fouud there, however, differ from thosi' of the 

 typical race by having the ochreous feathers on the thinks 



