323 



trying to make from one point of vantage to another, but swims, and seems to be quite at home 

 in these thickets, where there is always water to the depth of two or three feet. These swampy 

 localities afford good shelter. In the mornings and evenings the Pheasants leave it for the more 

 open and dry country, where they pick up their food. I believe the same species is found on 

 the Hari-rud River, but I have seen no specimens from that locality." 



In its habits and mode of nidification the Murghab Pheasant does not differ appreciably 

 from P. colcMcus. Mr. Zarudny writes (I. c.) that during the pairing-season " when crowing it 

 prefers to perch on a bush or a mound, always near the water, for during this season of intense 

 excitement it drinks and bathes even during the intervals of its crow or song. Its crow is 

 accompanied by a slight characteristic sound produced by the wings like that when it takes 

 wing. It calls very early in the morning and towards the evening, very seldom during the heat 

 of the day, and more seldom at night. The crow, which is uttered singly, consists of two 

 syllables uttered almost together. When uttering the call it looks sharply about searching for 

 the females, now and then jumping up a couple of feet from the ground, and it is then very 

 difficult to approach within gunshot of it. When it catches sight of a female advancing towards 

 the place where she hears the crow, the male dashes impetuously after her until she allows 

 herself to be caught. At times when a male approaches instead of a female a sanguinary fight 

 ensues between the rivals. Once a Turcoman potter brought me two Pheasants which he had 

 caught with his hands during a similar fight. The male Pheasant lives together with several 

 females, which he does not leave during the time of incubation, and goes about afterwards 

 surrounded by their united families. 



" In June, July, and August these birds are in full moult, and late in August I have seen 

 young birds which have almost attained the adult dress, and again in the second half of July I 

 have killed young birds which were not larger than a Moorhen. When the young are hatched 

 the female remains alone with them until the whole brood from one and the same nest is united, 

 and then they wander from place to place under guidance of the male. Between the 22nd July 

 and the 1st August I saw along the Alikhanoff canal flocks of young Pheasants each consisting 

 of about fifty individuals. They feed on seeds of various plants, grain not yet harvested, and 

 insects. They frequently visit the water-melon plantations, on which they make great havoc. 

 In the morning and evening they are fond of going on the roads and paths, where they find 

 beetles and orthoptera. During the heat of the day they go to drink, and are then easily 

 obtained. 



" Its nest is made under a bush, generally under a last year's alcliagi plant, bent by the 

 wind, and consists of a depression scratched in the soil and lined with dry bents, down, and 

 feathers. I have frequently found Pheasants' nests containing from seven to eleven strongly 

 incubated eggs between the 22nd May and the 1st June." 



Mr. Walter says (Vog. Transcasp. p. 93) that he " frequently found nests of this Pheasant 

 in the Murghab district in 1887. All these nests were in low tamarisk-thickets, especially where 

 asparagus grew, and less frequently under last year's growth of alchagi. In construction they 

 resembled the nest of P. persicus, only that when placed near the river-bank 1 found reed foliage 

 made use of. Two out of three nests I found near Sary-jasi, on the 10th April, 1887, contained 

 nine, and one five, fresh eggs, but, according to the officers quartered there, up to eighteen are 



