THE PHEASANT IN HISTORY 



instead of .white or red. Of the seven pheasants 

 which Seebohm classes together as races of the 

 Siberian Pheasant {Phasianus torquatus), the most 

 widely distributed is the typical ring-necked bird, 

 the range of which extends from the Lower Amoor, 

 through Manchuria, to Eastern China, where it is 

 found as far south as Chang-shi and Canton. ' It is 

 easily diagnosed by two characters — neck with a white 

 ring round it, and flank feathers buff, with the usual 

 black tips. As might be expected from its wide 

 range, it varies somewhat in colour in different loca- 

 lities. Examples from the Corea have the ground 

 colour of the mantle and flanks a paler buff than 

 usual, but they do not approach P. formosamis in 

 having any wider dark margins than is usual on the 

 breast feathers. The feathers of the upper mantle 

 also differ very considerably ; the centres are white in 

 an example from the Amoor, and black with a narrow 

 white shaft-streak in examples from Northern and 

 Central China ; but other examples are intermediate 

 in this respect.' 



The handsomest specimen of the Siberian Pheasant 

 that I have personally examined was sent to me from 

 the neighbourhood of Neu chwang. It has a very 

 broad white collar of snowy purity, and the colours of 



' Ibis, fifth series, vol. vi. p. 314. 



