CHAPTEE XI. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE COVERT 

 (CONTINUED). 



THE PRINCE OE WALES'S PHEASANT {PHA8IANU8 

 PRINCIPALIS). 



BHE pteasant most recently introduced in a living 

 state into this country is tliat named after H.R.H. 

 the Prince of Wales ; the account of its introduction 

 is soon told : 

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

 logical Society skins of a pair of pheasants brought 

 from Bala Murghab, North Afghanistan, belonging to the 

 Prince of Wales, and read extracts relating to the specimens 

 from a letter addressed by Mr. Oondie 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 bo 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 any young. 



