PHEASANTS. 113 



all the pheasants, except when a female takes her lord's 

 colouring, as occasionally happens, are far less conspicuous, 

 necessarily, since they have the incabation work to do, and 

 must not betray either themselves or their nests. The male 

 can at will erect his neck covering into a most remarkable 

 ruff, doubtless useful in a threefold manner, to attract his 

 lady love, to scare his rivals, and to provide some protection 

 when fights take place. Another of the genus, T. Amherstiae, 

 or C Amherstiae, was named in honour of Lady Amherst. It 

 is in some ways even more striking than its golden relative. 

 Its tail feathers are something like three feet in length, and 

 broader than those of most other pheasants. Head, mantle, 

 scapulars, and chest are a dark bronze green, but there is a 

 long crest of blood red. A cape of pure white is margined 

 and barred across the middle with black, glossed with steel 

 blue. Rump and lower parts are buff, barred with dark 

 green. The bird is a native of Tibet and western China, 

 and is quite hardy. 



The silver pheasant is of another genus still, and is 

 called by PereDavid Euplocainus Nycthemerus. Fukien and 

 S. \V. China form its chief habitat. It derives its common 

 name from the white back and tail. There is a rather long 

 crest of purplish black feathers, and the white ground of the 

 back is marked feather by feather with dark converging lines. 

 All the under parts are dark, the bird thus sharing with the 

 golden plover a not common distinction in this respect. As 

 a specimen in the Shanghai Museum shows, the silver 

 pheasant is one of the most strongly built of the whole familj-. 

 As a fighter it is said to be the equal of a game cock. There 

 is another species of the same genus found in Formosa and 

 known as E. Sivinhoii. 



The tragopans have two representatives, Ceriornis 

 Temminchii and C. Caboti. The different varieties of this 

 genus vary greatly in colour, but are alike in one respect, 

 their more or less striking adornment by means of spots on 

 their plumage. They have also "horns" which account for 

 one of their popular titles, horned pheasants. In the breeding 

 season the throat of the male is covered with a loose, brightlj^ 

 coloured bib or lappet which hangs down several inches in 

 time of passion, but is much less conspicuous during the 

 winter. C. Temminckii, or Temminck's tragopan, is as well 

 known a game bird in the S.W. provinces of China as Cabot's 

 is in the S.E. districts, where it loves to make its home on 

 close covered hill-sides. 



One more relative of the great pheasant family and we 

 shall have come to the end of our list. This is the only 

 representative described by David of the highly important 

 genus Gallus, or game fowls. He names it G. femigineiis. 



