6i 



The splendid Soemnien-iug's Pheasants (/*. soem- 

 vierringi) from the Japanese Islands of Hondo and 

 Kill- sin, one of the elaborately beautiful forms, is 

 represented by a pair of birds. 



The strikingly coloured Reeves's Pheasant {P. 

 reevesii), the male of which sometimes grows a tail 

 about 5 feet long, conies from China, and is the largest 

 of the true Pheasants, the male reaching a total of 

 ■6ft. 6in. in length. 



The Golden Pheasant (^Thaicmalea picta) of which 

 the Zoological Society possess several examples, and 

 the Amherst Pheasant (7". ainherstics) are well known 

 birds, the palm for beauty being generally given to 

 the male of the latter species, as to most people's 

 tastes the Golden Pheasant is too gaudy a bird. The 

 Golden Pheasant is from Western and Southern China, 

 and the Amherst Pheasant from Western China and 

 Kastern Tibet, both species being birds of the 

 mountains. 



The Peacock Pheasant (^Polyplectro7i chinqicis) 

 which belongs to a different group, has its home in 

 Indo-China, and is at a distance a greyish mud- 

 coloured bird, but on closer examination is shown to 

 have very beautiful " ocelli " or e5'e spots on the 

 feathers of the wings and tail. These ocelli are of 

 metallic green and violet, or blue and purple, accord- 

 ing as one may see them as the bird moves about. 

 Like the Golden and Amherst and Reeves's Pheasants, 

 this Peacock Pheasant is a bird of the Hills, and is 

 found in bamboo jungle and in wooded ravines, though 

 it ranges down to the plains as well. 



The Siamese Pheasant {Euplocanuis prcElatiis) is 

 ■quite a different looking bird to an ordinary pheasant, 

 and, by a casual observer, might be taken to be some 

 extraordinary variety of fowl. In general shape and 

 appearance it is midway between the pheasant and the 

 fowl type, having the bare face patches of the pheasant 



