﻿WESTERN 
  KOKLASS 
  PHEASANT 
  27 
  

  

  appear 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  only 
  specimens 
  in 
  any 
  museum. 
  They 
  were 
  sent 
  to 
  the 
  East 
  India 
  

   Company 
  by 
  Dr. 
  William 
  Griffith. 
  I 
  was 
  able 
  to 
  obtain 
  a 
  single 
  moth-eaten 
  skin 
  from 
  

   a 
  civilian 
  in 
  India, 
  who 
  had 
  two 
  more 
  poorly 
  mounted 
  specimens, 
  males, 
  all 
  of 
  which 
  

   had 
  been 
  collected 
  in 
  eastern 
  Kafiristan. 
  They 
  approached 
  close 
  enough 
  to 
  this 
  sub- 
  

   species 
  to 
  fall 
  within 
  its 
  definition 
  rather 
  than 
  to 
  be 
  classed 
  as 
  biddidphi. 
  

  

  As 
  I 
  have 
  already 
  stated, 
  Gould 
  is 
  in 
  error 
  when 
  he 
  writes 
  that 
  castanea 
  is 
  larger 
  

   than 
  the 
  average 
  of 
  macrolopha. 
  The 
  measurements 
  are 
  approximately 
  the 
  same, 
  with 
  

   a 
  slightly 
  larger 
  average 
  in 
  favour 
  of 
  macrolopha, 
  due 
  doubtless 
  to 
  the 
  larger 
  series 
  

   available. 
  

  

  Gould's 
  two 
  types 
  vary 
  inter 
  se, 
  almost 
  as 
  much 
  as 
  the 
  form 
  itself 
  departs 
  from 
  

   typical 
  biddulphi. 
  

  

  The 
  head, 
  back 
  and 
  wing-coverts 
  are 
  similar 
  to 
  the 
  general 
  average 
  of 
  macrolopha 
  

   macrolopha, 
  except 
  that 
  the 
  back 
  feathers 
  have 
  wider 
  black 
  centres 
  than 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  

   darker 
  individuals 
  of 
  the 
  Common 
  Koklass. 
  The 
  rump 
  has 
  very 
  indistinctly 
  marked 
  

   black 
  centres, 
  and 
  the 
  secondaries 
  are 
  less 
  rufous, 
  more 
  sandy 
  in 
  tone, 
  although 
  none 
  

   of 
  these 
  characters 
  is 
  the 
  same 
  in 
  the 
  several 
  individuals 
  of 
  castanea. 
  The 
  tail-feathers 
  

   have 
  much 
  of 
  the 
  chestnut 
  replaced 
  by 
  an 
  extension 
  of 
  the 
  dark 
  brown, 
  except 
  near 
  the 
  

   base 
  of 
  the 
  feathers. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  most 
  extreme 
  of 
  Gould's 
  types 
  the 
  entire 
  upper 
  neck, 
  the 
  mantle 
  and 
  the 
  

   whole 
  of 
  the 
  ventral 
  surface 
  are 
  uniform 
  dark 
  chestnut, 
  with 
  the 
  exception 
  of 
  the 
  lower 
  

   sides 
  and 
  flanks, 
  which 
  are 
  more 
  typically 
  macrolophq-MVe. 
  The 
  bases 
  of 
  all 
  these 
  

   chestnut 
  feathers 
  are 
  dark 
  brown, 
  and 
  on 
  the 
  lower 
  breast 
  and 
  belly 
  this 
  brown 
  colour 
  

   becomes 
  dominant, 
  the 
  chestnut 
  being 
  restricted 
  to 
  the 
  tips 
  of 
  the 
  feathers. 
  The 
  under 
  

   tail-coverts 
  are 
  radically 
  unlike 
  in 
  Gould's 
  two 
  types. 
  In 
  one, 
  and 
  in 
  my 
  specimen, 
  they 
  

   are 
  almost 
  uniform 
  chestnut 
  ; 
  in 
  the 
  other 
  type, 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  visible 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  feathers 
  

   is 
  white. 
  

  

  Gould's 
  plate 
  (" 
  Birds 
  of 
  Asia," 
  VII. 
  1854, 
  pi. 
  54) 
  represents 
  the 
  most 
  extreme 
  of 
  his 
  

   types 
  very 
  well. 
  Elliot 
  (" 
  Monograph 
  of 
  the 
  Phasianidae," 
  I. 
  1879, 
  pi. 
  29) 
  makes 
  castanea 
  

   a 
  synonym 
  of 
  Temminck's 
  duvauceli. 
  This 
  in 
  turn 
  Grant 
  places 
  under 
  nipalensis. 
  A 
  

   glance 
  at 
  the 
  plate, 
  however, 
  shows 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  biddulphi, 
  the 
  restricted 
  chestnut 
  of 
  the 
  

   ventral 
  plumage 
  setting 
  it 
  apart 
  from 
  castanea, 
  and 
  the 
  light 
  macrolopha-Yike 
  upper 
  

   surface 
  showing 
  that 
  it 
  has 
  nothing 
  to 
  do 
  with 
  the 
  dark-backed 
  eastward 
  offshoot 
  of 
  

   macrolopha. 
  Elliot's 
  description 
  of 
  the 
  posterior 
  upper 
  parts, 
  " 
  black, 
  the 
  feathers 
  edged 
  

   with 
  white," 
  does 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  correspond 
  with 
  the 
  plate. 
  

  

  SYNONYMY 
  

  

  Pucrasia 
  castanea 
  Gould, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  1854, 
  p. 
  99 
  ; 
  Gould, 
  Birds 
  of 
  Asia, 
  VII. 
  1854, 
  pi. 
  27 
  ; 
  Sclater, 
  List 
  

   of 
  Phasianidae, 
  1863, 
  p. 
  4; 
  Blyth, 
  Ibis, 
  1865, 
  p. 
  28; 
  Blyth, 
  Ibis, 
  1867, 
  p. 
  152; 
  Hume, 
  Stray 
  Feathers, 
  V. 
  1877, 
  

   p. 
  138 
  ; 
  Elliot, 
  Ibis, 
  1878, 
  p. 
  125 
  ; 
  Hume, 
  Game-birds 
  India, 
  I. 
  1879, 
  pp. 
  165, 
  166; 
  Grant, 
  Cat. 
  Game-birds 
  Brit. 
  

   Mus. 
  XXII. 
  1893, 
  P- 
  314; 
  Grant, 
  Hand-book 
  Game-birds, 
  I. 
  1895, 
  p. 
  285; 
  Blanford, 
  Fauna 
  Brit. 
  India, 
  Birds, 
  

   IV. 
  1898, 
  p. 
  86; 
  Sharpe, 
  Hand-list 
  Birds, 
  I. 
  1899, 
  p. 
  36; 
  Finn, 
  Game-birds 
  India 
  and 
  Asia, 
  1911, 
  p. 
  65. 
  

  

  Pucrasia 
  duvauceli 
  Blyth, 
  Ibis, 
  1867, 
  p. 
  152; 
  Gray, 
  Hand-list 
  Birds, 
  II. 
  1870, 
  p. 
  259; 
  Marshall, 
  Ibis, 
  1879, 
  

   p. 
  463. 
  

  

  Pucrasia 
  macrolopha 
  (var. 
  castanea) 
  Fulton, 
  Jour. 
  Bombay 
  Nat. 
  Hist. 
  Soc, 
  XVI. 
  1904, 
  p. 
  81. 
  

  

  Pucrasia 
  macrolopha 
  Perreau, 
  Jour. 
  Bombay 
  Nat. 
  Hist. 
  Soc, 
  XIX. 
  1910, 
  p. 
  919. 
  

  

  Pucrasia 
  macrolopha 
  castanea 
  Beebe, 
  Zoologica, 
  I. 
  No. 
  15, 
  1914, 
  p. 
  278 
  ; 
  Baker, 
  Jour. 
  Bombay 
  Nat. 
  Hist. 
  Soc, 
  

   XXV. 
  1918, 
  p. 
  539- 
  

  

  