THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
the species have probably sprung from an ancestral ringed -form seems 
to be indicated by the fact that a partial white ring occurs in certain 
individuals of the southern species, which are normally devoid of that 
ornament. Possibly they still occasionally revert to a ringed ancestral 
stock. It is a mistake to regard such partially ringed individuals as 
wild hybrids, for in most cases the country which each species inhabits 
is entirely shut off by enormous ranges of mountains which effectually 
bar all intercourse between the ringed species and their southern allies. 
For instance, it is not uncommon to find examples of P. principalis from 
the Murghab basin and of P. shawi from the valleys of Yarkand with 
an imperfect white ring round the neck, yet it is practically impossible 
for either of these species to meet with the ring -necked forms P. mongolicus 
or P. turcestanicusy both the latter being shut off by high mountains and 
impassable deserts. It must, however, be added that wild hybrids certainly 
sometimes occur between P. zarudnyi and P. chrysomelasy which both inhabit 
the valley of the Amu-Darya. In this instance, however, there is nothing to 
prevent the two species from meeting and occasionally inter -breeding. 
It is interesting to recall the fact that P. turcestanicus, which inhabits the 
valley of the Syr -Darya, though turned down in the Zarafshan Valley in 
1881-83, had practically disappeared in 1890.* In the Zarafshan Valley a 
very distinct species, P, zerafshanicusy lacking the white ring, or with 
only traces of one, and most nearly allied to P. principalisy is indigenous. 
In some examples of this bird, notably in the type specimen, there are 
traces of a white collar, possibly indicating the influence of the introduc- 
tion of P. turcestanicus. Mr Douglas Carruthers recently obtained a 
number of examples of the Zarafshan pheasant, which have no trace of 
a white collar, but illustrate very clearly the remarkable difference in 
colour between freshly moulted autumn specimens and those in worn 
breeding plumage, a difference so great that, if borne in mind, it will 
deter the makers of new sub-species from giving names to single speci- 
mens which differ slightly in tint. 
Of the thirty-five forms recognized by Mr Buturlin in his latest review 
of the “ True blue -and -green -headed Pheasants,” probably ten or more 
might with advantage be suppressed, the characteristics which are said 
to distinguish them being of the slightest, and the material on which they 
are founded (in some instances on one or two specimens only) being 
quite insufficient. No allowance seems to have been made for individual 
*Tarnovski, Field, xxvii, p. 409 (1891). 
108 
