200 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AXD AVIARIES. 



aiTani^'omeut of tlie coLmrs, juid has cuiiseciiieiitl}^ lieun 

 regarded as .i distiiiet speeies, and named /'. iiriiicijinl i.s, 

 ill coiiiinemoratieu of: the fact tliat the skins \vere received 

 from His ]\Iajesty King Edward A'll. when J'rince of AVah-s. 



It has been successftdly introduced and reared in our 

 coverts l.iv Cohjuel I\[ai-sden Suuderhind, and is a nr(.ist 

 valnaljle a(Witiou to oar ccjverts, giving size and hardih(jod 

 to our native Ihrds, Tlie pliinnige is lieautifully spangled 

 with hright purplish Ijlack on a rich golden red grouml, the 

 white shoulders and dark flight feathers standing out in 

 strong contrast ; Init there is no riog around the ueck^ as in 

 the Chinese pheasant. 



In its habits it differs somewhat from our connuun siiecies 

 in frequenting swampy ground coveiTd with reeds, returning 

 to the co^-ert ti.i roost at night. In its nati\-e habitnt it is 

 most al)uudant. At .^^asuchak, on the U]>per Murghal.i; in 

 Northern Afirhanistiin, J\Ia](ir ])urand and Major Yate, as 

 recordeil in the latter officer's letters from the " Afghan 

 Boundary Conimission," bi-ought in a bag of nearly fifty 

 s]iecimens killed diu-ing the afternoon. "It is exti'aordinarv," 

 ilajor Yate remarks, " wha.t a. nuiiibi'i' of pheasants there are 

 in the reed swamps of this vallej-j and this year they seem to 

 be even more numerous tliau last. T knoWdf nn country in 

 the wijrhl "where one c;ai g'et such good reid wild-pheasant 

 shooting as this. (Ju tlie 'Jlst wt^ also brought in a bag of 

 sevea1y-tw(.) ipheasauts, hint, ns on the first day, lost a good 

 many wounded birds. Tlio reeds nre so thick, and the birds, 

 esjiecially tlie old cocks, so strong, tha,t it is very hard to bag 

 one's bird e^'eii after it is shtit." 



Dr. Aitchison, writing of this pheasant in the I'ransactions 

 of the Linnean Society, saj's : " The specimens of this 

 pheasant were all got on the bunks of the Bala Miirghab, 

 where it (.iccurs in considei-abh:- niuubers in the tanririsk and 

 gra.ss jungle growing in the bed of the river. i\Ioi-e thau 

 idur hinab-ed wei'c killed in the march of thirty miles up this 

 river. It not only wades through the water in trying to make 



