102 The Natural History of British Game Birds 
in pure-bred males is the almost complete absence of the ear-tufts. In the breeding 
season the male has a very rounded head, and the small feathers above the ears are 
raised slightly. Total length, 36.5 in. ; wing, 9.6 in. ; tail, 22 in. ; tarsus, 2.8 in. ; 
weight from 4 to 5 lbs., but first crosses with P. colchicus and P. c. torquatus are 
often heavier. The soles of the feet are white ; the colour extending to the top of 
the toes. 
Adult Female. — -The general plumage of the female resembles in some degree that 
of P. c. torquatus, except that it is much paler. A distinctive characteristic in the 
pure Mongolian is the form of the pattern on the rump feathers, which have two 
horizontal (and a suggestion of a third under the downy parts) bars of buff. These 
markings are narrower and more definitely pronounced than the buff marks on 
P. c. torquatus and P. colchicus; they are also of different shape. Female 
P. colchicus has a large dark area on the rump feathers and one blunt arrow- 
shaped buff mark, and sometimes with the suggestion of a second above it in 
incomplete form. P. c. torquatus has two buff markings of very irregular shape, the 
lower being sharply arrow-headed with one side longer than the other, whilst the 
upper bar is more or less horizontal, broad, and uneven. The female Mongolian is 
also larger, paler, and has fewer dark markings on the chest and flanks. Another 
noticeable feature is the pale straw-coloured iris, which in the spring looks almost 
white ; the legs and feet are also of lighter colour. Total length, 26 in. ; wing, 8.5 in. ; 
tail, 12.3 in. ; tarsus, 2.5 in. ; weight, 3 to 4 lbs. 
Crosses between all the different sub-species are now abundant in these islands 
and present every variety of plumage in the ratio of the degree of parentage. 
Distribution. — Mr. O. Grant gives the range of this magnificent sub-species as 
" from the valley of the Syr-Darya, across the basin of Lake Balkash, as far east as 
Lake Saisan and the valley of the Black Irtish, and southwards to the valley of the 
Hi and Issik-Khul." 
The first arrival of true Mongolian Pheasants in our islands was due to the 
initiative of Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, who has done so much to supply the wants of 
collectors of live birds and animals. In 1901 the Hon. Walter Rothschild and, I 
think, also Mr. Rowland Ward and Mr. C. E. Russell, had some of these birds, and 
at once appreciated their great beauty and usefulness as a new introduction to Great 
Britain. Coming, as they do, from the cold parts of China and Mongolia, they are 
very hardy and able to bear the extremes of both heat and cold. Those of us who 
have travelled much in countries much colder than our own in winter will have noticed 
that the summers in the sub-arctic zone usually come on with greater heat and more 
sun than fall to our islands, and with this additional warmth on well-drained soils comes 
an exceptional abundance of insect life. This is doubtless the case in the home of 
the Mongolian Pheasant, to whom an abundant supply of animal food is essential 
during the early life. A neglect of this, and the treatment of this sub-species on similar 
lines to P. colchicus and P. c. torquatus, has resulted in many failures to rear Mon- 
golian Pheasants, and so at first this fine bird received the stigma of being delicate. 
This was particularly the case in Scotland, where warmth is always very late in coming 
and where the supply of insect food is often lacking at the time of hatching. In the 
