154 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



average of several instances, the former would deposit from eighteen to twenty-five, 

 while older birds will lay from forty to fifty in a season. It is probable that this is due 

 to a greater stimulation due to captivity, as the effect of several years' habit in attempt- 

 ing to replace the eggs which are continually taken away to be reared under domestic 

 hens. 



The most successful way of introducing birds such as the Reeves Pheasant to a 

 wholly new environment, but where the ring-necked bird is already acclimatized, is to 

 slip the fertile eggs into the nests of the latter species. The chicks seem to do as well 

 as the birds' own progeny, being hardy, and vigorous, and a good proportion will survive in 

 this way. Thus all danger as to the wandering away of the newly liberated adult birds is 

 obviated. A lady in the north of England who followed this method stocked her whole 

 estate in one season from a cock and two hens, the latter laying about fifty eggs each, 

 most of which were reared by their wild pheasant foster-mothers. 



Reeves's Pheasants are hardy birds and will do well in an aviary with no artificial 

 heat. If their runway is too small for them to take the full amount of exercise which 

 they need, they will require shelter in severe weather from icy winds and snow. A 

 record of over fifty individuals confined in the London Zoological Gardens shows an 

 average length of life of almost two years, while one bird lived five years and four 

 months. The record of the bird which lived near Hong-Kong for thirteen years is 

 unique. The period of incubation is from twenty-four to twenty-five days. 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male. — Central crown and occiput, lower eyelid and a patch beneath it, 

 chin, throat and a narrowing band around the lower neck pure white. Forehead, lores, 

 featherlets of facial area and a broad line bounding this area extending backward over 

 the ear-coverts, and forming a band around the head and upper hind neck, a broad band 

 around the lower throat, beneath the white, widening on the breast, velvety black. 

 Lower hind neck and sides of the neck, mantle, scapulars, inner secondaries, back and 

 rump, golden yellow, broadly fringed with black. The whole of the mantle plumage is 

 comparatively uniform, but on the back and scapulars, one or two oblique black cross- 

 bars appear on the concealed portions of the feather, the background of all this basal area 

 being white. On the lower back this entire basal area becomes black, but on the rump, 

 the black cross-bars and white ground again become developed, with infinite variations, 

 however. 



The wing-coverts are black and white, the white on the lesser coverts being confined 

 to a V-shaped bar, but increasing posteriorly until on many feathers the black is 

 restricted to a wide margin and a basal shaft-streak. The terminal white is strongly 

 tinged with gold on the greater coverts, and the visible portions of the secondaries are of 

 the same colour, the black margins dying out on the inner feathers of this series. The 

 larger secondaries are strongly barred with white on the concealed portions, the bars 

 dying out on the outer web and becoming rufous on the inner web of the outermost 

 secondaries. The primaries are more or less barred with rufous and pale buff, with 

 chestnut spots between the buff on the outer web. 



The upper tail-coverts are mottled grey, with a broad golden-brown margin and 

 very regular broad black cross-bars, the visible ones with chestnut spots. 



