﻿TALISCH 
  CAUCASIAN 
  PHEASANT 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  colchicus 
  talischensis 
  Lorenz 
  

  

  Names. 
  — 
  Subspecific 
  : 
  talischensis, 
  after 
  Talisch, 
  the 
  Russian 
  district 
  inhabited 
  by 
  this 
  bird. 
  English 
  : 
  

   Talisch 
  Pheasant. 
  

  

  Type. 
  — 
  Locality 
  : 
  Talisch. 
  Describer 
  : 
  Th. 
  C. 
  Lorenz. 
  Place 
  of 
  Description 
  : 
  Journal 
  fur 
  Ornithologie, 
  

   1888, 
  p. 
  572. 
  

  

  Subspecific 
  Characters. 
  — 
  -Middle 
  of 
  breast 
  and 
  sides 
  of 
  abdomen 
  are 
  purplish 
  carmine, 
  and 
  chest 
  and 
  

   upper 
  breast 
  are 
  narrowly 
  margined 
  with 
  purple 
  ; 
  breast 
  feathers 
  more 
  pointed 
  and 
  their 
  black 
  margins 
  narrower 
  

   than 
  in 
  the 
  other 
  related 
  forms. 
  

  

  GEOGRAPHICAL 
  DISTRIBUTION 
  

  

  This 
  is 
  a 
  bird 
  of 
  the 
  lowlands 
  of 
  the 
  south-western 
  shore 
  of 
  the 
  Caspian 
  Sea. 
  Its 
  

   range 
  includes 
  the 
  Russian 
  district 
  of 
  Talisch 
  and 
  the 
  Persian 
  provinces 
  of 
  Ghilan 
  and 
  

   most 
  of 
  Mazanderan. 
  On 
  the 
  north 
  the 
  Talisch 
  Pheasant 
  grades 
  into 
  colchicus, 
  while 
  in 
  

   the 
  south-eastern 
  part 
  of 
  its 
  range 
  it 
  comes 
  very 
  close 
  to 
  the 
  Persian 
  Pheasant 
  {persicus). 
  

   In 
  its 
  subspecific 
  characters 
  it 
  approaches 
  this 
  latter 
  pheasant, 
  but 
  is 
  worthy 
  of 
  a 
  definite 
  

   place 
  with 
  the 
  red-rumped 
  Caucasian 
  group 
  on 
  account 
  of 
  its 
  consistently 
  sandy-brown 
  

   wing 
  coverts. 
  

  

  Writing 
  of 
  Northern 
  Persia, 
  Buxton 
  tells 
  us 
  that 
  "this 
  race 
  of 
  the 
  pheasant 
  is 
  

   common 
  both 
  on 
  the 
  northern 
  slopes 
  of 
  the 
  Elburz 
  and 
  low 
  down 
  in 
  the 
  extremely 
  

   marshy 
  forest 
  close 
  to 
  the 
  Caspian. 
  Ingoldby 
  flushed 
  the 
  bird 
  at 
  Bandar-i-Gaz 
  from 
  

   small 
  tufts 
  of 
  rice 
  straw 
  in 
  wet 
  paddy-fields 
  in 
  winter, 
  and 
  they 
  are 
  not 
  rare 
  in 
  the 
  dense 
  

   reed-beds 
  round 
  the 
  Resht 
  lagoon 
  country 
  in 
  which 
  purple 
  herons, 
  gallinules 
  and 
  

   water 
  rails 
  seem 
  more 
  naturally 
  at 
  home. 
  If 
  one 
  were 
  to 
  judge 
  from 
  the 
  few 
  specimens 
  

   at 
  Tring 
  and 
  the 
  British 
  Museum, 
  and 
  the 
  three 
  males 
  at 
  my 
  disposal, 
  one 
  would 
  

   conclude 
  that 
  the 
  white 
  ring 
  so 
  characteristic 
  of 
  some 
  Eastern 
  pheasants 
  was 
  repre- 
  

   sented 
  solely 
  by 
  an 
  occasional 
  white-tipped 
  feather 
  in 
  some 
  males 
  and 
  not 
  in 
  others, 
  but 
  

   this 
  is 
  far 
  from 
  being 
  the 
  case. 
  I 
  have 
  seen 
  many 
  scores 
  of 
  specimens 
  in 
  the 
  bazaars 
  

   of 
  Resht 
  and 
  Enzeli, 
  and 
  a 
  small 
  proportion 
  of 
  them 
  have 
  very 
  nearly 
  complete 
  white 
  

   rings 
  to 
  their 
  necks, 
  but 
  are 
  in 
  other 
  respects 
  typical 
  talyschensis. 
  The 
  throats 
  of 
  these 
  

   specimens 
  had 
  been 
  cut 
  almost 
  to 
  the 
  point 
  of 
  decapitation, 
  and 
  I 
  preserved 
  no 
  skins. 
  

   Pheasants 
  are 
  sold 
  for 
  about 
  one 
  tolman, 
  approximately 
  eight 
  shillings, 
  a 
  price 
  sufficient 
  

   to 
  put 
  every 
  gunner's 
  hand 
  against 
  them." 
  

  

  SYNONYMY 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  colchicus 
  Blanford, 
  East. 
  Persia, 
  II. 
  1876, 
  p. 
  272 
  (Resht, 
  Mazanderan); 
  Radde, 
  Orn. 
  Cauc. 
  1885, 
  

   p. 
  289 
  (partim) 
  ; 
  Radde 
  and 
  Walt, 
  Ornis, 
  1889, 
  p. 
  90 
  (Talisch). 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  persicus 
  Suz., 
  subsp. 
  talischensis 
  Lorenz, 
  Jour, 
  fur 
  Orn. 
  1888, 
  p. 
  572 
  (Talisch). 
  

  

  83 
  

  

  