EUPLOCAMUS LINEATUS, Vigors. 



Lineated Pheasant. 



Lophophorus Cuvieri, Temm. PI. Col., v. pi. 1 (1820, hybrid). 



Lineated Pheasant, Lath. Gen. Hist. B., viii. p. 201. 



Phasianus lineatus, Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831, p. 24 (ex Lath. MS,).— Jerdon, B. Ind., iii. p. 531.— Beavan, Ibis, 1868, 

 p, 381. 



Gennceus lineatus, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1228. 



Phasianus Reynaudi, Lesson, in Belanger, Voy. Ind. Orient. Zool., p. 276, pis. 8, 9. 



Phasianus fas ciatus, M'Clell. Calcutta Journ. N. H., ii. p. 146, pi. 3. 



Lophophorus leucomelas, Gray, List of Genera, 1840, p. 60. 



Alectrophasis leucomelanos, Gray, List of Genera, 1841, p. 78. 



Gallophasis fasciatus, Gray, Gen. B., iii. p. 498. 



Euplocamus lineatus, Gray, List of Genera, p. 78.— Blyth, Cat, B. Mus. A. S. B., p. 244.— Sclater, P. Z. S., 1863, 

 p. 120.— Id. text to Wolf's Zool. Sketches, 2nd ser. pi. 38.— Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 153— Gray, List of 

 GallinEe, p. 34.— Gray, Hand-1. B., ii. p. 260.— Elliot, Monogr. Phasian., ii. pi. xxxiii. 



Grammatoptilus lineatus, Reichenb. Syst. Av., p. 30. 



If there is one species more than another which unites the two sections of the genus Euplocamus (that is 

 to say the Kaleeges) with the Silver Pheasant, it is the present bird. The largely developed facial wattle, 

 the finely pencilled plumage extending over the whole upper surface, and the form of the tail incline it 

 to the Silver Pheasant {Gallophasis nycthemerus) ; but then the latter species and its immediate allies are 

 distinguished by their bright red legs, while in the present bird they are bluish grey. This may seem 

 to many a character of slight importance ; but to my mind it is not so, for I find the colour of the legs 

 in these Pheasants of great differential value. Those who know our Silver Pheasant, the beautiful 

 Euplocamus Swinhoei, or its elegant congener E. praelatus, and the still more curious Lobiophasis Bulweri, 

 will remember that all these birds have delicate legs of a bright red colour, whereas the present bird and 

 all the Kaleeges have them dark-coloured. I lay the greater stress on this point because Mr. Elliot, 

 in his noble monograph of the family, has given bright red legs to E. albocristatus ; but this must be 

 an oversight, for I find that Dr. Jerdon gives them as "dark horny," which accords with my own 

 experience. Again, in the description of the present species, he gives the legs as red, whereas they 

 are figured brown in the plate; and that the latter is correct will be found on a reference to Wolf's 

 plate in the ' Zoological Sketches,' taken from the living bird. 



As is the case with most of the members of the genus Euplocamus, of which allied species interbreed on 

 the confines of their respective ranges, the Lineated Pheasant is often found crossed with E. Horsjieldi ; 

 and were hybrids to be noticed, it would stand as Euplocamus Cuvieri, as our first notice of the species 

 was in 1820, when Temminck figured a hybrid specimen. Concerning this I may with advantage quote 

 Mr. Blyth's remarks : — 



" The Lophophorus Cuvieri represents one of the hybrid races referred to, between Gallophasis lineatus and 

 G. Horsjieldi. These completely pass one into the other in the province of Arakan, whence some living 

 specimens have been received by the Zoological Society. In like manner G. albocristatus and G. melanonotus 

 interbreed in the intermediate province of Nipal, G. melanonotus being the species inhabiting Sikkim and 

 Butan,. where most assuredly G. lineatus is unknown, the latter inhabiting southward of the rano-e of 

 G. Horsjieldi, i. e. in Pegu and the Tenasserim provinces, where I have personally observed it in the 

 forests." 



Captain Beavan writes as follows : — " Dr. Jerdon mentions the singular drumming noise made by the 

 male. With respect to Euplocamus lineatus, which is, in my opinion, a true Kalleege, I may mention that 

 the Burmese take advantage of this habit of the birds, and by imitating it with a rough kind of machine 

 catch numbers of the latter species. It is like the crow of a cock, a kind of challenge uttered by one male 

 to excite another to a battle — ' in defiance of his fellows.' " 



Mr. Elliot further observes :— " Mr. Blyth informs me that the natives snare a cock bird of this species, 

 and secure him near the jungles, when his cries serve to bring the males who may be within hearing into the 

 open, looking for their antagonist, whom they immediately attack, thus giving the concealed gunner an 

 opportunity to shoot them ; and in this way many birds are obtained. Of course it is only the cocks which 

 are procured, the hens never paying any attention to the crowing, but remaining quietly in the forest." 



