i84 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



new ; while the 6th, 7th and 8th are old full-grown juvenile feathers. These three are 

 margined with pale buff on the outer web ; the 9th and loth are much like the 

 new ones. 



The outermost secondary is still unshed, showing on its outer web four or five 

 irregular bands and patches of buff. Its covert is dull brown, still bearing strands of 

 down upon its terminal barbs. The next four secondaries are nearly grown, plain blue- 

 grey ; but the remainder of the secondaries are old juvenile ones, brown, thickly mottled 

 with buff. Both wings exactly correspond as to stage of moult. 



The tail is wholly of new feathers, growing from without inward, the central ones a 

 mass of short, wholly disintegrated barbs. 



The bare facial area, while quite red, has the scattered fcatherlets more prominent 

 than the papillae. 



Bill from nostril, 24 ; wing, 228 ; tail, 200 ; tarsus, 74 ; middle toe claw, 56 mm. 

 The spurs are very short, sharp tubercles. 



EARLY HISTORY 



The Blue Eared-pheasant was the first of its genus to be described, and, curiously 

 enough, it has ever remained the least known of all the Crossoptilons. Over one 

 hundred years ago, in 181 1, Pallas described it as Phasianus auritus in his " Zoographia 

 Rosso- Asiatica." The type has long since been lost, and the original description was 

 so vague that when specimens of the brown species were discovered, the two were 

 confused for many years. But when finally the Abbd David sent two skins of 

 undoubtedly Blue Crossoptilons to the Paris Museum, all doubt was cleared away as 

 to the relative distinctness of the two forms. 



Phasianus auritus Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat., II. 1811, p. 86; Gray, List Gallinae Brit. Mus., 1867, p. 31 ; 

 Sclater, Ibis, 1874, p. 170. 



Crossoptilon auritum Gray, Hand-list Birds, II. 1870, p. 259; Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871, p. 399: 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871, p. 495 ; Elliot, Mon. Phas., I. 1872, pi. 17 ; Prjewalsky, Mongolia, II. 1876, p. 121 ; 

 id. in Rovvl. Orn. Misc., II. 1877, p. 420 ; David and Oustalet, Ois. Chine, 1877, p. 406, pi. 108; Prjewalsky, 

 Reisen in Tibet, 1S84, p. 204; Stolzman, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1885, p. 431 ; Deditius, Jour, fiir Orn., 1886, p. 536; 

 Prjewalsky, Ibis, 1887, pp. 403, 406; Pleske, Bull. Acad. St. P^tersb., XIII. 1892, p. 297 ; Grant, Cat. Game-birds 

 Brit. Mus., XXII. 1893, p. 295 ; Grant, Hand-book Game-birds, I. 1895, p. 257; Nehrkorn, Kat. der Eiersamm- 

 lung, 1899, p. 193 ; Schalow, Jour, fur Orn., 1901, p. 412 ; Baker, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, XXXIII. 1914, p. 121. 

 Beebe, Zoologica, I. No. 15, 1914, p. 275. 



Crossoptilum auritum Sharpe, Hand-list Birds, I. 1899, p. 35; Dresser, Man. Palae. Birds, II. 1903, p. 672; 

 Parrot, Filchner Exped., X. 1908, p. 132. 



Crossoptilon caerulescens David, MS. ; Milne-Edwards, C. R., LXX. 1870, p. 538 ; id. Ann. Mag. N. H.,(4), V. 

 1870, p. 308 ; David, N. Arch. Mus. Bull., VII. 1871, p. 11. 



Crossoptilon harmani Elwes, Ibis, 1881, p. 399, pi. XIII; Baker, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, XXXIII. 1914, p. 

 121 ; Elwes, Geog. Jour., XLIV. 1914, p. 364. 



Crossoptilon harmani Dresser, Man. Palae. Birds, II. 1903, p. 673. 



Crossoptilon auritum Wilson, A Naturalist in Western China, II. 1914, p. 123. 



Harmans Pheasant Bailey, Geog. Jour., 19 14, pp. 354, 355. 



Crossoptilon auritum auritum Baker, Jun. Bomb. Nat. His. Soc. XXIV. 1916, p. 631. 



Crossoptilon auritum harmani Baker, Jun. Bomb. Nat. His. Soc. XXIV. 1916, p. 633. 



