114 WILD LIFK IN CHINA. 



It is the Chinese representative of the red jungle fowl, 

 G. Bankiva, of which one needs but to see a picture to be 

 satisfied at once of its relationship to our barn-door breeds. 

 It is common in Cochin China, is known in Hainan and, I 

 believe, in the Philippines. Our game cock is perhaps its 

 closest domesticated relative. 



If no other purpose has been served by the preceding 

 notes on China's pheasants, they will have proved to demon- 

 stration that few, if any, lands can boast of any finer or wider 

 selection. China is so immense, her physical geography 

 presents such contrasts, and her latitude and longitude are 

 both so extensive that it is but natural that her varied climate 

 should agree with the needs of an equally varied selection of 

 birds. India is solely torrid ; Europe is entirely temperate; 

 much of Siberia is quite arctic. At various times in the year, 

 and in various parts of the country China can boast of all 

 these and all their connecting links. She is torrid enough 

 during July and August to suit a salamander. In January 

 and February her northern districts are hyperborean. During 

 those same months her central and southern parts vary from 

 the mildness of a winter in Torbay to the sub-tropical warmth 

 of Kwangtung and Hainan. Naturally such differences suit 

 here one, there another of the great gallinacean family, and 

 hence the richness of this particular branch of Chinese fauna. 

 With greater facilities for travel, we shall more and more 

 appreciate this marvellous wealth. 



