NEW BLOOD PHEASANTS 



By C. WILLIAM BEEBE, 

 Curator of Birds 



The Blood Pheasants forming the genus Ithaginis fall into three 

 groups which until recently have each been represented by a single 

 species. Cruentus has the throat crimson and the breast streaked with 

 the same color and with a faint green wing patch; geoffroyi has the 

 throat and breast blue-grey and the wing patch vivid green; sinensis 

 combines with a pale buff breast, wing-coverts of golden brown or 

 bright rufous. 



One day in northwestern Yunnan, in December, 1910, I noticed 

 a Chinaman passing along the trail driving a number of forlorn 

 horses with some heavy merchandise. Under the thongs which 

 fastened one of these loads was tucked a bedraggled mass of feathers. 

 A glint of scarlet caught my eye and I stopped the man and examined 

 the plumage. I saw at once that it was the remains of a Blood 

 Pheasant, and consisted of a large patch of breast feathers almost 

 wholly scarlet and black, and two detached wings with the typically 

 long, loose, bright green coverts of geoffroyi. I secured the plumage 

 and learned that the man had obtained it from a native farther to 

 the north. He could not say certainly whether all the plumage 

 came from a single individual, and although I realized its great 

 interest, it was impossible to put any exact interpretation upon it 

 at the time. 



While studying the specimens of pheasants in the museum of 

 the Jardin des Plantes here in Paris I have come across two mounted 

 specimens which clear the matter up, and show that the Blood 

 Pheasant from the extreme northwest finger of Yunnan is a very 

 well-marked form, by far the most beautiful and brilliantly colored 



