Page:Ibis - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/51

1921.] twittering continuously. Some packs kept wheeling round, but none settled that day. During that mouth a great number appeared to have passed, some from west to east, others in an opposite direction. They prohably came from the interior via the Chihli Plain. Many flocks must have settled on the plain in this vicinity and farther north, as the market during the winter was stocked with both live and dead birds. The former were kept in baskets like chickens or quail and seemed quite tame. They were fed on kaoliang (sorghum). I saw birds flying also during December, but all passed at a considerable distance, and I had to fall back on the market for specimens. The immigration must have ceased early in the winter as no fresh specimens were to be seen in the market after December or maybe January, and the birds must have returned inland during the latter month. After this, I did not see any more, neither were any exposed for sale in the Chinwangtao market. 1 was much astonished to hear from Mr. A. L. Hall, to whom I am indebted for much information and for specimens from the extreme north of the province, that this Sand-Grouse is unknown in the Chihfeng district. Mr. C. B. Rickett wrote to me in the spring of 1913 that o;reat numbers of Sand-Grouse were imported that season into England from Russia, so that 1912-13 must have been a great Sand-Grouse year.

Pallas's Sand-Grouse is also of irregular occurrence at Newchwang and is occasionally very abundant there. During the winter 1889-90 I saw but one flock and none were brought to market.

187. Phasianus colchicus karpowi Buturlin.

Phasianus torquatus, var. a, D. & O. p. 409.

The North China Ring-necked Pheasant is very abundant in the mountainous country north of Chinwangtao, but does not occur commonly within twelve miles of the port. From the beginning of November to the beginning of March the market is stocked with these pheasants brought down from localities twenty to sixty miles distant from the coast.

The characteristic features of the North China Pheasant