SCEMMERRINGS PHEASANT 



margined with rufous, the general colour of the upper parts, 

 black, mottled with sandy buff and rufous. The feathers 

 on the mantle with the ground colour mostly rufous, those 

 of the back and scapulars mostly black with buff showing 

 stripes. Chin, throat and fore-part of the neck, pale buff, most 

 of the feathers, except those down the middle being tipped with 

 black ; chest, pale greyish rufous, spotted with black. Rest 

 of the under parts are mostly buff. Tail feathers, chestnut, the 

 middle pairs indistinctly mottled with black and buff, the outer 

 pairs tipped with black and white. Total length, 21.0 inches ; 

 wing, 8.1 ; tail, 7.5 ; tarsus, 2.1." 



Range. — Japanese Islands of Hondo and Kiu-siu. 



Habits. — Very little has been written about the habits 

 of Scemmerring's Copper Pheasant, and the only public 

 notices are not very important. Since the year 1865, 

 several birds have been bred in the Zoological Gardens, 

 but the young birds have not survived for more than a 

 few days. 



Dr Joseph Wilson gives the following notice on this 

 species : — 



" During the first part of our stay at Simoda, the cultivated 

 fields afforded no food for the Pheasants. The natives told 

 us they were plentiful in the hills, but no one was willing to 

 undertake to show them, and several rambles through the 

 bushes where these birds were supposed to feed, ended in 

 disappointment. Once only I had a glimpse of a brood of 

 young ones near the mountains, but they immediately dis- 

 appeared by running very rapidly. The note of one or other 

 of this species of Pheasant was heard frequently. On the 

 top of the precipitous hill about a mile from Simoda, covered 

 by small trees and very thick undergrowth of shrubbery, the 



57 



