PHASIANUS MONGOLICU S, Brandt.
Mongolian Pheasant.

Phasianus Colchicus, var. Mongolice, Pall. Zoogr., tom. ii. p. 84.
Mongolicus, Brandt, Bull. des Sci. de St. Pétersb., tom. iii. p. 51.

 

As any additional information relative to the history of the typical Pheasants cannot fail to be of interest to
various classes of the community, I have considerable pleasure in giving a figure of a very fine bird of this
genus, at present scarcely known even to the scientific world. The obscurity in which it is involved is due
to the small amount of European intercourse with the distant country of which it is a native, and the
little we do know respecting it is derived from Pallas and other Russian travellers and naturalists.

I am indebted to Professor Brandt, of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, a gentleman
distinguished for his profound acquirements in many branches of natural history, not only for a very beautiful
skin of this species, but for the following note, which I give in his own words. I am also indebted to the
intrepid Siberian traveller, Mr. Atkinson, for some notes respecting the Pheasants seen by him during his
journey, and which doubtless have reference to the present bird and the Phasianus Colchicus.

“The Phastanus Mongolicus,” says Professor Brandt, “is the variety Mongolice of the Phasiani Colchici
of Pallas (Zoographia, vol. ii. p- 84), of which that naturalist has himself said, at p- 85,—‘ Dubius heereo
an hane avem pro varietate Ph. Colchici vel pro distincta specie tradam;’ but I am satisfied that it is quite
distinct, both from that bird and from the P. ¢orquatus; I have therefore assigned to it the specific desig-
nation of Mongolicus. Independently of the localities mentioned by Pallas, the P. Mongolicus is also found
in Tarbagatai and in the Altai, and is doubtless spread over the country lying to the westward.”

‘In answer to your inquiries about the Pheasants of Asia,” says Mr. Atkinson, “I beg to say that I first
observed them on the wooded banks of the Lepsou, a river which falls into the Balkash; these had the
white ring round their necks ; they were also seen in vast numbers on the borders of all the small rivers
and in the wooded ravines in the great horde of Kirghis, which stretch along the foot of the Alatou Moun-
tains. Further to the west, on the Kezzil-a-gatch, I found the Common Pheasant in considerable numbers ;
I have also seen several that were brought from the country to the west of the river Ilia. After extending
my journey to the Gobi Desert, south of the ‘Tangnou Mountains, I again found them on the small rivers of
Mongolia, and these also had the white ring.”

We have now therefore a knowledge of the existence of four very distinct, but nearly allied species of true
Pheasants, which, contrary to the usual course of nature, will probably cross with each other in a state of
semi-confinement, the produce of which, if not prolific with each other, will be so with their parents on
either side; the four species are, Phastanus Mongolicus, P. torquatus, P. versicolor, and P. Colchicus. Of
these the most powerful is the P. Mongolicus, the native country of which is Mongolia and Chinese Tartary,
while that of P. ¢orguatus is Eastern China, P. versicolor Japan, and P. Colchicus Asia Minor and Western
Asia.

The P. Mongolicus differs from all the other species above enumerated in its larger ae in the glaucous
colouring of its shoulders, and particularly in the narrow and well-defined barrings of its tail-feathers ; it has
the lunate mark of white on the neck much broader than in P. torguatus ; and it also differs from that bird
in the absence of any buff colouring on the sides, or of any black colour on the abdomen ;

The male may be thus described :—Crown of the head and nape greenish bronze, in some lights very
strongly tinged with purple; sides of the head and neck green; round the back of the neck a pugad lunate
mark of pure white; feathers of the base of the neck and one part of the back bronzy red, with a small,
nearly triangular mark of black at the tip of each ; remainder of the Racleteatioa chestnut-red, broadly
margined with greenish bronze ; shoulders or lesser wing-coverts glaucous ae ; greater coverts grey, with
white shafts, on either side of which are two irregular marks of chestnut, which advance towards each other
and meet near the apex of the feather; primaries brown, margined externally with buff, and toothed
internally with greyish white ; secondaries greyish brown, motéled with darker brown, and broadly margined
with chestnut, some of the feathers having a broad whitish stripe down the centre ; breast and under sumtace
fiery chestnut-red, each feather broadly margined with bronzy green ; those of the flanks crossed at the tip

by a line which in some lights is black and in others brilliant green, the extent SS eas

as the feathers proceed towards the vent; these flank feathers aren of a oo i oe
than the other parts of the body ; centre of the abdomen 0 the thighs, a3 : a y clot ce me oe
brown, glossed on the tips of the feathers with green ; tail-feathers bronzy red, crossed by Se ee
bars of black, bordered on each side by a lighter line of bronzy rc than the body of the feather ; all Las
tail-feathers fringed with bronzy green ; the hue of the longer tail-feathers becomes paler towards the tip
and the bands greatly increased in breadth ; under tail-coverts deep si ct Jet
Total length, 3 feet 3 inches ; bill, 1 inch ; wing, 104 inches oe tena = a : : " o . A
The female I have never seen ; but there are specimens in the Museum at St. ee a are = e
by M. Kareline, at Semipalatinsk in Siberia, near the Slemtes: frontier, Z a ee = aa
Kinchhoff; and another in the Museum at Bremen, which latter, Dr. Hartlaub informs me, is s

darker in colour than the female of P. Colchicus.

The figure is about two-thirds of the natural size.

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