﻿ZARUDNY'S 
  PHEASANT 
  

  

  Phasifinus 
  colchicus 
  zarudnyi 
  Buturlin 
  

  

  NAMES.— 
  Subspecific 
  : 
  zarudnyi, 
  after 
  Mr. 
  Zarudny, 
  a 
  Russian 
  traveller 
  and 
  collector. 
  English 
  : 
  Zarudny's 
  

   or 
  Chardjui 
  Pheasant. 
  

  

  TYPE. 
  — 
  Locality 
  : 
  " 
  from 
  Khiva 
  to 
  Chardjui." 
  Describer 
  : 
  Zarudny 
  under 
  the 
  preoccupied 
  name 
  of 
  medius, 
  

   which 
  Buturlin 
  changed 
  to 
  zarudnyi. 
  Place 
  of 
  Description 
  : 
  Ornith. 
  Fauna 
  Transcasp., 
  1896, 
  p. 
  481. 
  

  

  SUBSPECIFIC 
  CHARACTERS. 
  — 
  The 
  terminal 
  black 
  of 
  the 
  scapulars 
  is 
  very 
  narrow, 
  not 
  broad 
  as 
  in 
  principalis 
  ; 
  

   a 
  white 
  collar 
  may 
  be 
  present 
  and 
  almost 
  complete, 
  or 
  represented 
  by 
  a 
  few 
  lateral 
  traces, 
  or 
  wholly 
  absent 
  ; 
  the 
  

   purple 
  of 
  the 
  breast 
  is 
  darker, 
  the 
  flank 
  tips 
  greenish, 
  and 
  the 
  feathers 
  of 
  the 
  throat 
  have 
  greenish 
  instead 
  of 
  

   purple 
  edges. 
  Three 
  additional 
  forms 
  have 
  been 
  described, 
  two 
  of 
  which, 
  gordius 
  and 
  tschardjuensis 
  , 
  I 
  heartily 
  

   agree 
  with 
  Hartert, 
  are 
  to 
  be 
  considered 
  as 
  individual 
  variations 
  of 
  zarudnyi, 
  while 
  the 
  third 
  jabae, 
  may 
  be 
  

   similarly 
  explained, 
  or 
  else 
  considered 
  as 
  a 
  hybrid 
  or 
  transition 
  between 
  zarudnyi 
  and 
  bianchii. 
  

  

  GEOGRAPHICAL 
  DISTRIBUTION 
  

  

  The 
  valley 
  of 
  the 
  middle 
  course 
  of 
  the 
  Amu-Daria 
  or 
  Oxus 
  River. 
  To 
  the 
  north 
  

   it 
  descends 
  to 
  the 
  Petro-Alexandrovsk, 
  there 
  almost 
  touching 
  the 
  southernmost 
  range 
  

   of 
  chrysomelas, 
  and 
  to 
  the 
  south 
  it 
  has 
  been 
  taken 
  at 
  Karnas, 
  not 
  far 
  from 
  the 
  

   Afghanistan 
  border, 
  and 
  the 
  eastern 
  point 
  of 
  occurrence 
  of 
  bianchii. 
  

  

  GENERAL 
  ACCOUNT 
  

  

  Of 
  the 
  habits 
  of 
  these 
  pheasants 
  nothing 
  has 
  been 
  recorded, 
  but 
  Lord 
  Curzon 
  tells 
  

   us 
  that 
  "the 
  bed 
  of 
  the 
  Amu-Daria 
  — 
  i.e. 
  the 
  depression 
  which 
  is 
  covered 
  in 
  time 
  of 
  

   high 
  water 
  — 
  is 
  here 
  between 
  two 
  and 
  three 
  miles 
  wide, 
  though 
  in 
  summer, 
  when 
  more 
  

   swollen 
  by 
  the 
  melted 
  snows 
  of 
  Hindu 
  Kush 
  and 
  the 
  Pamir, 
  the 
  inundated 
  surface 
  

   sometimes 
  extends 
  five 
  miles. 
  In 
  the 
  autumn 
  and 
  winter, 
  when 
  the 
  waters 
  have 
  

   shrunk, 
  the 
  channel 
  is 
  confined 
  within 
  its 
  two 
  banks 
  and 
  is 
  then 
  from 
  half-a-mile 
  to 
  

   a 
  mile 
  in 
  width, 
  flowing 
  with 
  a 
  rapid 
  current 
  of 
  most 
  irregular 
  depth 
  over 
  a 
  shifting 
  and 
  

   sandy 
  bottom. 
  Mud-banks, 
  covered 
  with 
  ooze 
  or 
  sand, 
  show 
  where 
  the 
  current 
  has 
  

   only 
  recently 
  subsided. 
  Still, 
  however, 
  did 
  it 
  merit 
  the 
  title 
  ' 
  the 
  great 
  Oxus 
  stream 
  — 
  

   the 
  yellow 
  Oxus.' 
  The 
  colour 
  of 
  the 
  water 
  is 
  very 
  dirty, 
  coffee-hued 
  brown, 
  the 
  

   facsimile 
  of 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  Nile, 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  extremely 
  healthful 
  and 
  can 
  be 
  drunk 
  with 
  

   impunity. 
  I 
  was 
  strongly 
  reminded 
  of 
  the 
  appearance 
  of 
  this 
  great 
  river 
  by 
  the 
  

   formation 
  of 
  its 
  bed, 
  by 
  the 
  structure 
  of 
  its 
  banks, 
  and 
  by 
  the 
  scenery 
  and 
  life 
  which 
  it 
  

   displayed, 
  of 
  many 
  a 
  landscape 
  on 
  the 
  Nile 
  in 
  upper 
  Egypt. 
  There 
  is 
  the 
  same 
  fringe 
  

   of 
  intensely 
  fertile 
  soil 
  along 
  its 
  shores, 
  with 
  the 
  same 
  crouching 
  clay-built 
  villages, 
  and 
  

   even 
  a 
  Bokharan 
  counterpart 
  to 
  the 
  Sakkiyeh 
  and 
  shadoof 
  for 
  raising 
  and 
  distributing 
  

   the 
  life-giving 
  waters 
  of 
  the 
  stream. 
  Only, 
  on 
  the 
  Oxus 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  cliff 
  like 
  the 
  eastern 
  

   wall 
  of 
  the 
  Nile 
  at 
  Gebel-el-Tayr, 
  and 
  alas, 
  in 
  this 
  northern 
  latitude 
  there 
  is 
  no 
  belt 
  

   of 
  coroneted 
  palms." 
  

  

  90 
  

  

  