REEVES'S PHEASANT 



Syrmattcus reevesi (Gray) 



Names. — Generic : Syrmaticus, Latin, syrmaticiis, dragging or trailing, from the Latin syrma, a robe with a 

 train. Given in reference to the long, trailing tail-feathers. Specific : reevesi, after a Mr. Reeves, who brought 

 the first living bird to Europe. English: Reeves's or Bar-tailed Pheasant. French: Le Faisan Superbe. 

 Faisan bronze. German : Konigsfasan. Native : Chi-ky ; Djeu-ky (Arrow-fowl, Chinese). 



Brief Description.— Male : Crown white, surrounded with a black band extending from forehead to 

 occiput ; chin, throat and nape white, margined below by a black collar ; upper parts cinnamon, wing-coverts 

 white, bordered with black ; lower plumage somewhat similar, chiefly white margined with chestnut, and on the 

 flanks with buff; remainder of under parts black; central pair of tail-feathers greatly elongated averaging five 

 feet in length, white down the centre, buff on the sides, barred with black and chestnut ; outer pairs tipped with 

 black. Female: Crown reddish brown; rest of head buff, with ear-coverts and a nuchal band blackish; upper 

 mantle rufous, tipped with grey, mottled with black, and with wide white spot ; rest of upper parts mottled with 

 grey, buff and rufous, wing-coverts with buff and the lower back with black shaft-stripes ; anterior under parts 

 somewhat like mantle, but with smaller white spots ; rest of under plumage pale buff; central tail-feathers mottled 

 with sandy, buff and black and about sixteen inches long ; outer ones chestnut, mixed with black, and barred and 

 tipped with white. 



Range. — Central and northern China. 



THE BIRD IN ITS HAUNTS 



Certain mid-reaches of the Yangtse River bring vividly to mind descriptions of the 

 rounds of Purgatory : the black, frowning cliffs, rising sheer hundreds of feet above either 

 bank, the gnarled, stunted vegetation, deformed by the elements and scanty nourishment,^ 

 and between, the dark rushing river, swirling through gorges, foaming over rocks, or in 

 even more sinister manner, eddying over submerged obstructions ! 



The elements, too, do their part : the sweltering, humid summer sun, making of the 

 days one long blistering cauldron, and in winter, the freezing, dark mists searching one's 

 very marrow. For a brief time, in spring and autumn, one may view the country 

 through rosier glasses, temperate winds, moderate warmth, but even then the land is 

 forbidding, the stream treacherous. 



It was on one of the purgatorial days that I set forth in search of Reeves's 

 Pheasant. Leaving my mat-roofed sampan on the gravel where a small side stream 

 made its way down through a narrow valley, I slung my glasses in place and started to 

 climb. I had not ascended fifty feet when a group of Chinamen came into view around 

 a bend in the river, well worthy of their surroundings. Closely packed together, they 

 screamed and yelled like wild beasts, bending almost double, exerting every ounce of 

 strength in their bodies. A moment later and I saw that their form of expiation was to 

 drag ever onward a big, awkwardly-built boat against the surging torrent. At times it 

 seemed as if the water would win, each man and woman flattened, almost prostrate, 

 clinging to boulders, working their toes into crevices, their faces distorted into cruel 

 bestial lines, and ever the harsh cries and screams rang out, without rhyme or rhythm. 



VOL. Ill 145 u 



