94 BULLETIN 186, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



GENNAEUS NYCTHEMERUS RIPPONI Bowdler Sharpe 



YUNNANESE SILVER PHEASANT 



Oennaeus ripponi Bowdlek Shakpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 13, 1902, p. 29 

 ("Southern Shan Hills"; type specimen from Mawkmai, fide Peters, Check- 

 list of birds of the world, vol. 2, 1934, p. 114). 



G[ennaeus] nycthemerus ripponi, Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. 

 Handl., 1916, p. 157 (Doi Pha Sakaeng). 



Gennaeus sp., Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1931, p. 168 (Doi 

 Suthep). 



Gennaeus nycthemerus rufipes, Chasen and Kloss, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 Suppl., 1932, p. 232 (Doi Suthep). 



Gennaeus nycthemerus ripponi, RitEY, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1933, 

 p. 154 (Doi Langka). — Deignan, Journ. Siam Soc. Nat. Hist. Suppl., 1936, 

 p. 80 (Doi Sutbep). — de Schauensee, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 

 1934, p. 274 (Doi Chiang Dao, Doi Suthep).— Riley, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 

 172, 1938, p. 69 (Doi Langka, Khun Tan). 



The silver pheasant seems to be rather common on all the higher 

 peaks of the North, occurring indifferently in the evergreen, the open 

 hill-forest, and in the pinewoods. It is ordinarily not found below 

 4,500 feet, but Smith took it on Khun Tan at 3,000 feet and de 

 Schauensee on Doi Chiang Dao at 2,500 feet. In April 1936 I picked 

 up a primary of this bird on Phu Kha at 5,000 feet. In Stockholm 

 are two males taken by Eisenhofer in 1916 at Khun Tan. 



Where all sunlight is shut out by the forest canopy and every rock 

 and tree trunk is draped with ferns and mosses, it is a beautiful sight 

 to watch an apparently snow-white cock skulk through the shadow 

 and vanish into what appears to be impassable thicket. At dusk and 

 dawn, when the silvers come out in small flocks to feed along the paths 

 which follow the ridges, the plumage is much less striking and more 

 concealing. They are shy and wary birds, and usually the only 

 indication of their presence in the forest will be a distant crowing, 

 not unlike that of the common pheasant. 



Riley has noted that Smith's two females from Doi Khun Tan, 

 taken May 15, had bare incubation patches. 



A male collected by me in May had the irides red-brown; the or- 

 bital skin deep crimson ; the bill horny olive ; the feet and toes bright 

 coral-red; the spurs horny white; the soles light brown; the claws 

 horny white, tinged pink at the base. 



The adult male has the crown and long crest steel blue ; the upper- 

 parts white with narrow black bars which follow the outline of the 

 feather and are broader on the wings ; the central tail feathers almost 

 wholly unmarked white; the sides of the neck unmarked white; the 

 underparts black, glossed w T ith blue on the breast and sides of the 

 body. The adult female has the upperparts rich brown, the crest 

 tipped steel blue and the tail feathers marked with irregular light 

 brown or black-edged white streaks and bars; the underparts chang- 



