BLUE EARED-PHEASANT 



Crossoptilon auritum (Pallas). 



Names. — Specific : auritum, L. auritus, eared, from the elongated ear-coverts on each side of the head. 

 English : Blue or Pallas's Eared-pheasant ; Snow Pheasant ; Grey or Mongolian Crossoptilon. French : Faisan 

 de Mongolie ; Ho-Ki. German : Mongolischer Ohrfasan. Vernacular : Ma-chi (horse-fowl, perhaps from its 

 great swiftness of foot ; Szechuan) ; Shandgi (mountain fowl, northern Chinese) ; Hara-takia (black fowl, 

 Mongols) ; Shariama (Tanguts) ; Ho-ki. 



BRIEF DESCRIPTION. — Male : General colour slaty-blue ; crown feathers short, curly and black ; ear-coverts, 

 white and much elongated ; an indistinct, white occipital band ; chin and throat white ; tail of twenty-four feathers, 

 the outer pairs with the basal three-quarters white and the ends black glossed with purple. Stout, short spurs. 

 Female : Similar to the male, except of somewhat smaller size and without spurs. 



Type. — "Phasianus auritus," Pallas, 1811, Zoographia Rosso- Asiatica. 



Range. — The mountains of Kokonor, Kansu, eastern Tibet and north-western Szechuan, western China. 



I was not fortunate enough to be able to study the Blue Eared-pheasant in its wild 

 haunts, and so am compelled to give a summary of existing knowledge of the habits of 

 the bird as gleaned from ornithological literature, as well as some very interesting 

 information sent to me by explorers and collectors. While this is extremely meagre, 

 yet on the whole the facts point to habits and a general life-history almost identical with 

 those of the brown eared-pheasant. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



This Eared-pheasant has been recorded from the states of Kokonor, Kansu and 

 north-western Szechuan in western China, and from various localities in eastern 

 Tibet. The Ala-shan mountains in upper Kansu form its northern boundary. It has 

 been reported as far south as Sungpan in Szechuan, where it either touches or 

 approaches very closely the northern range of the white eared-pheasant. To the 

 south-east typical specimens have been found for some distance, beyond which the birds 

 known as harmani are found, which in variability and general asymmetry of pattern and 

 colouring demonstrate hybridization with the white species tibetanum. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



Lieut-Col. Prjewalsky has had excellent opportunities of observing the Blue 



Eared-pheasant in the Tangut country, and found it both on the Kansu and Ala-shan 



mountains, where it was well known to the natives. He tells us that in both these 



localities this Pheasant lives in well-wooded regions, the forests of the mountain slopes, 



and never on the treeless ranges. It prefers the woods on the sides of rocky mountains, 



where there is an abundance of underwood, and in such places ranges up to an elevation 



of ten thousand feet. 



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