CHAPTER XX. 

 The Silver Pheasant {Euplocamus nyctJiemerux) 



and Allied Species. 



UNDER the name of Euplocamus nycthemerus the Silver 

 Pheasant has been known to naturahsts suacethe time 

 of Linnaeus. In the eariier works on natural history, 

 such as that of Albin, published in 1738, and Edwards, in 1751, 

 it was termed the Black and White Chinese pheasant, which 

 name was employed by Buffon ; it was also termed the Pen- 

 cilled and Lineated Pheasant, and by Temminck Faisan bicolor. 



Its native locality was first definitely ascertained by 

 Consul Swinhoe, who informs us that it inhabits the wooded 

 hills in the interior of southern China. Writing to Mr. Elliot, 

 he states : " This bird is known to the Chinese as the Pih 

 Heen, and it is one of those which are embroidered upon the 

 heart-and-back badges of the official dresses of the civil 

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

 have ascertained, it is found in the wooded mountains of the 

 following provinces : Fokien, Canton, Kwangse, and Kweichou. 

 It is brought to Canton city from the province of Kwangse 

 by the west river, and offered alive in the shops for sale. All 

 the birds I have seen so offered have been captured. I do 

 not think the Chinese had the bird in confinement. A friend 

 of mine shot one in some woods, in the mountains about 100 

 miles from Amoy (Province Fokien), but I have never met 

 with the species in my rambles." 



In his "Handbook to the Game Birds," 1895, Mr. W. 

 Ogilvie-Grant writes : " According to the Abbe David the 

 Silver Pheasant is becoming very rare in a wild state, and is 

 only found in South China, towards the north of Fokien, and 



