1f)-2 



I'f/h'ASAXTN Fan rOVETtrs AM) AVJATUES. 



Hankow, :niil fniiii it seven Reeves's plieasunts were deposited 

 m tlie Z(i(iln^-ical (Jai'deii, Reo'eut's Park. Mr. Medhurst was 

 anxious that ller Majesty Qneen \'ictoria shiiuld have early 

 -jii.s^essinn of specimens (if 1' refrrsii ; and, in compliance 

 witli liis wish, one male and two females were offered 

 to and graciously accepted by Her Majesty. Since the 

 successfnl reintroduction of these birds they have bred freely 

 both in confiiiemeut and at large in Kngland and on the 

 I'ontinent, and are now to be ]Darchasod at the dealers. 



With i-egard to the distribution of this bird in China, 

 .Mr. iSanrin remarks; — "The Reeves's ])heasant, called by the 

 Chinese ('hi-<Jhi, is very rarely seen in tli(^ Pekin market. 

 For a. long time 1 failed to discover from what quarter thev 

 came. Last winter I ascertained, however, that thev 



caine from tlie Tung-lm; and I have reason to suppose that 

 thev are to be found nowhere else in the ]>rovince of Chi-li. 

 Alioiil twenty birds were brought down alive hist winter. 

 They are never brought in frozen or by Mongols. Their flesh 

 is very delicious, and sujierior, to my taste, to tliat of anv 

 (jther plieasaiil ." 



The general character of the ]>liiiiiage of the Reeves's 

 pheasant i^ well slanvn in the illustrations. The head is 

 covered by a. eowl of white, surrounded b^- a band of black, 

 with a spot of white under the eye ; the neck has a In'oad ring 

 of white, margined below with a black collar; the feathers of 

 the back and u|-i](er |iart of the breast are of a brilliant golden 

 yellow, luargiiied with black ; those of the lower part of the 

 brea.st are white, each (jno presenting ba.nds of black more <ir 

 less irregular in their arrangement ; the under parts of the 

 body ;ire ih'ep Ijhick ; the tail is formeil of eighteen feathers, 

 w-hich are closely folded together, so that the t'ntire tail 

 appears narrow ; at the broadest jjart the feathers are about 

 L!in, in width ; the gnamd colour of each t;iil feather is greyish- 

 white down the centre, and golden red at the edges, and 

 crossed with crescent-shaped bars, which vary in number 

 according to the length of the feather, in the longest feathers 



