REEVES'S PHEASANT. 109 



superstitiously believed that tlie blood of tbe bird possesses poisonous properties, and 

 that the Mandarins, when in expectation of losing their rank and being suddenly 

 put to death by order of the Emperor, preserve some of it on a handkerchief in a 

 dried state, on sucking which they fall down and instantly expire. 



"Mr. Beale's first male specimen, obtaiaed in 1808, was kept in a healthy 

 state for thirteen years ; after its death he endeavoured to procure others, but did not 

 succeed until 1831, when four specimens were brought from the interior of China, 

 and purchased by him for 130 dollars ; these were, I believe, taken to England 

 subsequently by Mr. Reeves." 



The first bird of this species introduced alive into Europe was imported about 

 the year 1831 by Mr. Reeves (of the firm of Dent and Co.). This specimen was a 

 male. The son of this gentleman, Mr. John R. Reeves, brought a female over with 

 him in 1838, and the pair were in the Zoological Gardens at the same time; but 

 the male being old, they did not breed. Some cross-bred birds were reared from the 

 hen, who died in 1840, and these are now in the British Museum. 



Dr. Latham, in his "General History of Birds," gave a description of this 

 species from a drawing in the possession of Sir J. Anstruther, and the tail feathers, 

 of which he states : — " I had an opportunity of seeing a bundle of thirty or forty of 

 these tail feathers, which were brought from China, and I found amongst them 

 specimens of every length from 18in. to 7ft." The species was named by Latham 

 P. swperbus. Temminck describes it under the title of Faiscm superbe in his 

 "Pigeons et Gallinac^s," published in 1813. At this date it was known to him 

 only by the two central tail feathers, and the dramngs of native Chinese artists. 

 Subsequently, however, he obtained a skin of the male, which he figured in his 

 "Planches colorie^s," giving it the new name of P. veneratus. This plate was 

 copied on a reduced scale in Jardine's " Naturalist's Library," published in 1834. 

 Dr. J. E. Gray, in his "Indian Zoology," named the bird after the gentleman by 

 whom it was introduced into England, and by this name it is now generally known. 



The successful introduction of the living birds now in England is owing to the 

 combined efforts of the late Mr. John J. Stone and Mr. Walter H. Medhurst, H.M. 

 Consul at Hankow. Owing to their exertions, this splendid pheasant is now firmly 

 established in this country, and like the P. versicolor and P. torquatus is to be seen 

 at large in our woods. 



Eor several years Mr. Stone made continuous efforts to obtain this and other 

 new pheasants from Northern China, but with no satisfactory results, until the aid 

 of Mr. Medhurst was obtained. It is mainly due to that gentleman's thorough 

 knowledge of the natives of China, and of their language, that the true habitat 

 of this bird was ascertained, and an experienced Chinaman sent into the interior 

 for the purpose of collecting this and other rare pheasants, of which coloured 

 drawings had been supplied for his guidance. 



