THE BARRED-BACKED PHEASANTS, 4I 



" A fight between two old cocks is a beautiful exhibition of 

 activity and spirit. They spring up five or six feet in the air 

 before striking, and s ich is their agility, that the bird assailed 

 hardly ever allows himself to be struck j so much the better 

 for him, for it will be observed that the legs are garnished witli 

 spurs as long and sharp as those of a game-cock. 



''The last peculiarity of this species worth naming is that 

 when they set out on a jaunt, they make for the highest point 

 within range, whereas the Common Pheasant is accustomed to 

 travel downwards along the course of the valleys." 



Hybrids between Reeves's and the Golden Pheasant have 

 been bred in confinement, and the males are remarkably hand- 

 some birds, having the general plumage reddish-brown. 



THE BARRED-BACKED PHEASANTS. GENUS 

 CALOPHASIS. 



Calophasis^ Elliot, Monogr. Phasian. ii. text to pi. xiii. his 

 (1872). 



Type, C. ellioti (Swinhoe). 



Characters similar to those given for the genus Phasianus^ 

 but distinguished by having only sixteen tail-feathers, and by 

 the males having the lower back and rump transversely barred 

 with black and white. 



Only two species are at present known. 



I. Elliot's pheasant, calophasis elliotl 

 Phasianus e/lioti, Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 550; Ogilvle- 



Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 335 (1893). 

 Calophasis ei/ioti, Elliot, Monogr. Phasian. ii. pi. xiii. bis 



(1872); Gould, B. Asia, vii. pi. 23(1874). 



Adult Male. — Mantle, shoulder-feathers, wing, chest, and 

 breast fiery bro?ize-red, shot with gold ; a white band down 

 each side of the mantle ; a ba?td of dark purplish-steel across 

 the lesser wing-coverts, and tivo white l>ands across the wifi^s 



