CHAI>TEIi XVI. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT 



(OOxNTINUED). 



THt] PRINCE OF WALES'S PHEASANT {PHA.^IANUS 

 PRINCIPALIS). 



ip-N April, 1SS5, Dv. Scliiter exliil)lted at the Zoo- 



ffte logical Society skins of a j^airof pheasants, bi-Diiglit 



?'l!|Pl?=^ from Bala Murghalj, Xortli Afti'liauistau, liclono-iuo- 



^m- to tlie Prince of Whales, and read extracts relating to 



It ^^^'' ^P'^''^''™^''^^ from a letter addressed by Mr. Ci.judie 



I Steplirn ti) Sir Digliton Prubyn. 



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



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



than I have seen in any Ijattue in lilughmd. Yon can imagine 



what a quantity there mus-t be from the fact that we killed 



more than four hundred on our march of thii't\' miles up the 



river, mostly cocks." 



The living specimens, which were subsec(nently received 

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

 were obtained by Major Peacock friim the ^Vfghan frontier, 

 but in couse([uence of their being received in very poor 

 coudition, they all died without having produced any young. 



The most importtUit characteristic of this Hue bird, 

 and one that disting'uishes it fi'i.)m all the phi.-asants first 

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

 a character which it has in commuu with the ibmgolian 

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



