19"^ Reeves's Pheasant. 



With regard to the distribution of this bird in China, Mr. 

 Saurin remarks : — " The Eeeves's pheasant, called by the 

 Chinese Chi-Chi, is very rarely seen in the Pekin market. 

 For a long time I failed to discover from wjiat quarter they 

 came. . . . Last winter I ai=certained, however, that Ihey 

 came from the Tung-lin ; and I have reason to suppose that 

 they are to be found nowhere else in the province of Chi-h. 

 About twoity birds were brought down alive last ^\inter. 

 They are never brought in frozen or b)' Mongols. Their flesh 

 is very delicious, and superior, to m}^ taste, to that of any 

 other pheasant." 



The plumage of the Eeeves's pheasant is very striking. The 

 head is covered by a cowl of white, surrounded by a band of 

 black, with a spot of white under the eye ; the neck has a broad 

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

 of the back and upper part of the breast are of a brilliant 

 golden yellow, margined with black ; those of the lower part 

 of the breast are white, each one presenting bands of black 

 more or less irregular in their arrangement ; the under parts 

 of the liody are det-p black ; the tail is formed of eighteen 

 feathers, which are closely folded together, so that the entire 

 tail appears narrow ; at the broadest part the feathers are 

 about 2in. in width ; the ground colour of each tail featjier is 

 .u'reyish-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 

 being considerably more than fifty. The central pair are 

 commonly .5ft. in length. 



A very interesting observation was made bj' the late Mr. 

 Blyth on the voice of this species. He states : " I have heard 

 the call-note of Eeeves's pheasant, and it was some time before 

 I could satisfy myself that it actually proceeded from such a 

 bird. It is hke the simple song of some small passerine bird, 

 dehvered in as high a key as the song of the hedge sparrow 

 (Accentor modularis), one of which happened to be singing at 

 the same time. A repetition of the same note seven or eight 



