CATREUS 

 CHEER PHEASANT 



Family PHASIANIDAE 



Subfamily PHASIANINAE 

 Genus CATREUS 



The sombre but harmoniously coloured Cheer Pheasant stands quite alone in a 

 number of characters, sufficiently insulated from the nearest related groups to warrant 

 its inclusion within a separate genus. From Phasiamts (as I define it) the Cheer is at 

 once distinguished by the firm webbing of the rump feathers and from both this genus 

 and Syrmaticus by the similarity in colouring of the sexes, and the presence of a crest. 



In addition to these characters, the general carriage of the Cheer, especially when 

 running at full speed, its notes, and the colour of its ^gg, all set it apart. On the other 

 hand, we may consider it somewhat intermediate between certain groups, as combining 

 the long, narrow tail of the true pheasants with the pinnated crest and bare facial skin 

 of some of the kaleege pheasants. 



A narrow-vaned, hairy, occipital crest is present, long and flowing in the cock, 

 shorter in the hen. Both sexes are clad in dull buffy white, with black bars and other 

 markings, relieved only by a dull gold or rust colour on the back and rump of the cock. 

 The short, strong spurs of the cock are represented in the female by low blunt processes. 

 There are eighteen feathers in the tail, which is strongly cross-barred, long, and extremely 

 graduated, the inner pair of rectrices being at least five times as long as the outer pair. 

 The ist primary is shorter than the loth ; the 5th being the longest of this series. 



CATREUS 



Type 

 Catreus Cab. Ersch. u. Grub. Encycl. sec. i, 1851, LIII. p. 221 . . . . C wallichii. 

 Lophophasianus Reichenb. Nat. Syst. Vog. 1852, p. xxxix C. wallichii. 



The genus Catreus consists of a single species, the Cheer Pheasant, Catreus 

 wallichii (Hardwicke), and is confined to a comparatively small area in the west and 

 central Himalayas. 



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