56 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



the edges of the back and breast feathers richly glossed with 

 red-gold ; the tail which is a yard long, is in two shades of chest- 

 nut, barred with black. The hen is mottled with black and chest- 

 nut, with the tail, which is barely eight inches long, chestnut 

 with black white tips. A variety of the cock, which has the 

 golden edgings of the feathers replaced by black and white, has 

 sometimes been distinguished as the 'Sparkling Pheasant, P. 

 scintillans. The eggs are greenish-white ; the Japanese name 

 expresses the peculiar call. This species in both varieties is 

 well known in Europe ; but a third recently-described race or 

 species, Ijima's Pheasant (P. ijimcs), from Kiu-siu, in which the 

 whole rump of the cock is white, has not been imported, as far as 

 I know. 



Mikado Pheasant. 



Calophasis mikado, Grant, Bull., Brit. Ornith. Club, 

 Vol. XVI, p. 277. 



Has only been recently made known ; the cock is one of the 

 most distinct of all pheasants in appearance, and especially in 

 this long-tailed group ; he is blue-black, with white markings 

 on the wing, and white cross-bars on the tail. The hen is mot- 

 tled brown, with small white dashes on the upper back and 

 breast. The species inhabits Formosa. 



Reeves' Pheasant. 



Phasianus reevesi, Brit. Mus. Cat., Birds, Vol. XXII, 

 P- 337- 



This very beautiful species, familiar in captivity in Europe, 

 and even sometimes kept at large there, is far bigger than any 

 other long-tailed pheasant, the hen even being as large as the 

 cocks of the ordinary pheasants. The cock has an exce-ssively 

 long tail — five or six feet ; this is chiefly silver-grey, boldlv 

 barred with black ; the head and neck are black and white, with 

 very little red skin round the eye ; the upper parts yellow, with 

 black edges to the feathers. The hen is very minutely and beau- 

 tifully variegated with black, bufl and grey like a Nightjar ; 

 her head is buff, with dark-brown crown and eye-stripes, and 

 there are white dashes on the upper back and breast ; the mid- 

 dle tail-feathers, which are not longer proportionately than in 

 common pheasants, are mottled grey, the outside ones 

 mostly chestnut, tipped with white. This bird is wild and flies 

 for long distances ; the cock's note is like the warble of a small 

 bird. It inhabits the mountains of North and West China. 



