CHAPTKli XX. 



PHEASANTS A])APTE]) TO THE AVIARY 



(CONTINUED). 



THE SILVER PHEASANT {EUPL0CA3IUS NYCTHE- 

 MI<:RUS) and AliLTJ-rD SPECIES. 



'J 



'^i|', NDI'^K the name of Eu./ilnca in us in/ctln nwi n.-.- the 



Silver Pheasant ]jas been knuun to naturalists 

 yA, ' since the time of Tjiniia'ns. In tlie earlier works 



r)f: 



If 



on natural history, such as that of Alhm, puljlislied in 

 17oS, and Edwards, lu 17.31, it was termed the Black 

 and White Chinese pheasant, which name wasemployed 

 hy Buffon ; it was also termed the Pencilled and Lineated 

 Pheasantj and by Temminck Edi.stni hicolor. 



Its native locality' was hrst deiinitely ascertained by 

 Consul Swinhoe, who iidVirms us that it inhalnts the wooded 

 liills in the iuteri(_>r of southern China.. Writing to i\Ir. 

 Elliot, he states: " This l)ird is knuwu to the Chinese as the 

 Pill Heen, and it is one of those which are embroidered u|i(jii 

 the lieart-and-back liadyes (jf the official dn'sses of the civil 

 Mandarins to denote the rank of the wearers. So far as I 

 ha.ve ascertained, it is found in the W(joded mountains of 

 the following' provinces : Fol^ieii, Canton, Kwaugse, and 

 Ivweichou. it is brought t(j Cant(Ui city from the ])rovince 

 of Ivwangse by the west river, and offered alive in the shops 

 for sale. All the liiids I have seen so offered have been 

 captured ; 1 do not think the Chinese had the bird in con- 

 finement. A friend (if mine shot one in some woods, m the 



