||®tASIA'K-US MAWI I .
B h A V ’1 —
PHASIANUS SHAWII, Elliot, Proc.Zool. Soc. (1870) p. 403.
H a b . Yarkand, Eastern Turkestan ( S h a w ) .
T h e province of Yarkand, in Eastern Turkestan,, is the Ideality from which this handsome species was brought. I t was procured
by Mr. Robert Shaw, whd returned to /England with two males, which were described by me in honour of the discoverer of so
.fine an addition to the already large number of true Pheasants. It appears to be very common in Yarkand, , as Mr. Shaw stated
that he shot many of them, and, indeed, mistook it fdr the common Phasiams colchicus. This species is one of the most
interesting discoveries yet made among the Gallinaceous birds, apparently presenting to u s ,the original stock (looking a t the subject
in; a Darwinian point of . view) from which all the species composing the restricted genus Phasiams have descended. Through
the newly discovered species lately deposited in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in Regent’s Park by Mr. Stone (by whose
praiseworthy exertions the living birds were procured, in the mountainous districts of Western Sechuen, in . China, and forwarded to
England), and which I have.described as Phasiams elegam, followed by the species obtained by Mr. Anderson in the province of Yunnan, in
Southern China, designated by him, in his manuscript notes, P . Sladeni, the direction is exhibited towards Phasianus versicolor, and
through Mr, Swinhoe’s P.. decollatus, of the eastern portion of the province of Sechuen, to P . torquatus. On the other hand, by
■ the second new species brought by Mr. Shaw, described by me as P . insignis, it bears off towards P . mongolicus, and only a
few degrees of change- are necessary to merge it in P . colchicus. The1, energy exhibited of late by those naturalists who have
pursued their investigations in the avifauna of China, and which has been so successful in producing many strange and
remarkable novelties, will probably before long place us in possession of the few remaining links needed to complete the chain
imperfectly sketched h e r e b u t from our present' information, if we are to suppose that Ilffl the true Pheasants have but one
origin, wbieh appears most probable, then it would seem that the species which is the subject of. this article is the one most
likely to be accepted as that from which all' the rest have sprung. As Mr, .Shaw -has returned again to Yarkand, we may
reasonably hope that more examples of this fine bird will be procured; and | i t | would be a very valuable acquisition if living
specimens could be obtained for tlie Zoological Gardens, to be acclimatized in Europe. .
Shaw’s Pheasant may b,e described as follows:—
Top of head and occiput brown, changeable to purple and green in different lights; rest of head, throat, and neck green, changing
to blue and purple. No white ring round . the neck. Feathers of upper part of back black, a t base, running about two-thirds the
■ length,; shaft and adjacent part of middle of the feather white; between the black and the metallic golden-brown edging is dull
chestnut; each feather tipped with metallic blue. Scapulars for' the most part chestnut, with small spots of metallic blue at the
tip ; bases of the feathers grey, shaft and centre white; between this white and the brown edging a bar of black. Shoulder white,
a- few feathers variegated with black, principally in their pentres. Some of the greater coverts long, and broadly margined with
chestnut. Secondaries pale brown* outer web slightly washed with rufous on the edge, mottled in the-; centre with fulvous
and black. Rump chestnut-red, covered in some lights with greenish reflections; the ends of the,feathers, which are very long,
hiding the upper coverts, deep unchangeable red. Feathers of the upper part of the breast broad (with a rich blue spot in the
centre at tip), deep rich chestnut, margined with brilliant blue. Feathers of the lower part of the breast broader, and rather
lighter in colour, bordered also with blue.* Flanks golden brown,«with a brilliant dark blue spot in the centre at the tip,
Abdomen brownish black. Under tail-eoverts red. Central tail-feathers rufous brown, with short, narrow, black bars next the
shaft, but not in the same line on both webs, and continued across the web by a bar .of chestnut joining the black. Outer webs
of lateral feathers similar; inner webs light brown, mottled with black, and barred at regular intervals with the same colour. Bill
very large, yellowish horn-colour. Feet and' tarsi greyish.
Tlie Plate represents the species of the natural size.