﻿J28 
  A 
  MONOGRAPH 
  OF 
  THE 
  PHEASANTS 
  

  

  for 
  their 
  non-observance. 
  Under 
  the 
  law 
  any 
  coolie 
  killing 
  anything 
  in 
  the 
  nature 
  

   of 
  game 
  is 
  liable 
  to 
  very 
  severe 
  punishment, 
  and 
  the 
  killing 
  of 
  big 
  game 
  by 
  

   those 
  not 
  authorized 
  to 
  do 
  so 
  is 
  rewarded 
  by 
  decapitation. 
  There 
  were 
  regular 
  

   imperial 
  huntsmen 
  who 
  were 
  allowed 
  to 
  kill 
  only 
  a 
  certain 
  number 
  of 
  head 
  in 
  each 
  

   district 
  per 
  year, 
  and 
  the 
  killing 
  of 
  females 
  was 
  strictly 
  prohibited. 
  Hunting 
  for 
  big 
  

   game 
  and 
  hawking 
  for 
  small 
  game 
  were 
  reserved 
  as 
  imperial 
  and 
  princely 
  pastimes. 
  

   As 
  things 
  are 
  at 
  present, 
  the 
  birds 
  are 
  not 
  protected 
  from 
  the 
  most 
  indiscriminate 
  

   slaughter. 
  

  

  Pheasants 
  are 
  taken 
  in 
  many 
  ways, 
  the 
  commonest 
  being 
  a 
  very 
  simple, 
  but 
  

   efficient, 
  snare 
  — 
  a 
  horse-hair 
  loop 
  fastened 
  to 
  a 
  bit 
  of 
  bent 
  bamboo. 
  Nets 
  of 
  great 
  

   extent 
  are 
  stretched 
  across 
  the 
  sides 
  of 
  a 
  field 
  and 
  the 
  birds 
  ingeniously 
  driven 
  beneath 
  

   them, 
  and 
  then 
  suddenly 
  rushed, 
  and 
  flushed 
  into 
  the 
  meshes. 
  

  

  Hens 
  are 
  captured 
  alive, 
  and 
  at 
  the 
  approach 
  of 
  the 
  breeding 
  season 
  are 
  fastened 
  

   by 
  a 
  short 
  string 
  to 
  a 
  stake. 
  Food 
  is 
  scattered 
  about 
  just 
  out 
  of 
  reach, 
  and 
  the 
  hen 
  in 
  

   her 
  efforts 
  to 
  reach 
  the 
  food 
  cackles 
  and 
  waves 
  her 
  wings, 
  thus 
  attracting 
  any 
  cocks 
  in 
  

   the 
  vicinity, 
  who 
  are 
  shot 
  one 
  after 
  the 
  other, 
  as 
  they 
  approach. 
  

  

  Ring-necked 
  Pheasants 
  are 
  sold 
  in 
  all 
  the 
  treaty 
  ports, 
  chiefly 
  to 
  foreigners. 
  In 
  

   season 
  they 
  are 
  sold 
  openly, 
  but 
  where 
  prohibited 
  by 
  local 
  market 
  regulations, 
  they 
  are 
  

   sold 
  and 
  eaten 
  as 
  "Shantung 
  Chickens," 
  a 
  very 
  thin 
  disguise 
  for 
  the 
  Chinese 
  name 
  

   Shan 
  Chi. 
  Recently 
  enormous 
  numbers 
  have 
  been 
  bought 
  up 
  by 
  the 
  agents 
  of 
  refrigerated 
  

   ships, 
  frozen 
  and 
  taken 
  to 
  Europe 
  by 
  the 
  thousand. 
  In 
  November 
  and 
  December, 
  

   from 
  48,000 
  to 
  60,000 
  pheasants 
  are 
  thus 
  shipped 
  from 
  Hankow 
  alone. 
  

  

  In 
  some 
  districts 
  the 
  Chinese 
  seem 
  to 
  believe 
  in 
  a 
  kind 
  of 
  dust 
  spirit 
  which 
  can 
  

   pass 
  from 
  a 
  live 
  pheasant 
  when 
  handled 
  by 
  a 
  human 
  being, 
  and 
  which 
  has 
  the 
  power 
  

   of 
  producing 
  a 
  fatal 
  illness, 
  accompanied 
  by 
  coughing 
  and 
  fever. 
  Dead 
  birds 
  may 
  be 
  

   handled 
  without 
  fear 
  of 
  this 
  catastrophe. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  in 
  certain 
  parts 
  of 
  

   Shantung 
  and 
  Chili 
  and 
  the 
  Chekiang 
  hill 
  districts, 
  pheasants 
  haunting 
  the 
  great 
  extent 
  

   of 
  graveyards 
  are 
  thought 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  receptacles 
  for 
  the 
  spirits 
  of 
  departed 
  ancestors. 
  

   The 
  natives 
  object 
  strenuously 
  to 
  the 
  shooting 
  of 
  birds 
  in 
  these 
  places, 
  and 
  will 
  steal 
  

   and 
  hide 
  any 
  wounded 
  or 
  dead 
  birds 
  which 
  the 
  hunter 
  overlooks. 
  

  

  SYNONYMY 
  

  

  Var. 
  a, 
  Ring 
  Pheasant 
  Lath., 
  Gen. 
  Syn., 
  II. 
  pt. 
  ii, 
  1783, 
  p. 
  715 
  ; 
  Lath., 
  Suppl., 
  I. 
  1787, 
  p. 
  208 
  ; 
  Lath., 
  Gen. 
  

   Hist., 
  VIII. 
  1823, 
  p. 
  190. 
  

  

  Ring 
  Pheasant 
  Hayes, 
  Osterl. 
  Menag., 
  1794, 
  p. 
  57, 
  pis. 
  57, 
  58 
  (Hybrid). 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  torquatus 
  Gmel., 
  S. 
  N., 
  I. 
  pt. 
  ii, 
  1788, 
  p. 
  742; 
  Temm., 
  Pig. 
  et 
  Gall., 
  II. 
  1813, 
  p. 
  326; 
  Temm., 
  

   Pig. 
  et 
  Gall., 
  III. 
  1815, 
  p. 
  670; 
  Leach, 
  Zool. 
  Misc., 
  II. 
  1815, 
  p. 
  13, 
  pi. 
  66; 
  Vieill, 
  N. 
  Diet. 
  d'Hist. 
  Nat, 
  XI. 
  

   1817, 
  p. 
  38; 
  Steph., 
  in 
  Shaw's 
  Gen. 
  Zool., 
  XI. 
  1819, 
  p. 
  228; 
  Griff., 
  ed. 
  Cuv., 
  III. 
  1829, 
  p. 
  22, 
  pi. 
  ; 
  Guerin- 
  

   M6neville, 
  Icon. 
  Reg. 
  Anim. 
  Ois., 
  1829-38, 
  p. 
  25, 
  pi. 
  42, 
  fig. 
  1; 
  Less., 
  Traite 
  d'Orn., 
  1831, 
  p. 
  495; 
  Jard., 
  Nat. 
  

   Lib. 
  Orn., 
  IV. 
  1834, 
  p. 
  189, 
  pi. 
  XIII. 
  (Hybrid); 
  J. 
  E. 
  Gray, 
  111. 
  Ind. 
  Orn., 
  II. 
  1834, 
  pi. 
  41, 
  fig. 
  1 
  ; 
  G. 
  R. 
  Gray, 
  

   List 
  Birds, 
  pt. 
  iii, 
  Gall., 
  1844, 
  p. 
  23 
  ; 
  Gray, 
  Gen. 
  Birds, 
  III. 
  1845, 
  p. 
  497; 
  Blyth, 
  Cat. 
  Mus. 
  As. 
  Soc, 
  1849, 
  p. 
  245 
  ; 
  

   Gould, 
  Birds 
  Asia, 
  VII. 
  1856, 
  pi. 
  39; 
  Schrenck, 
  Reisen 
  Amur-land, 
  I. 
  1859, 
  p. 
  402 
  ; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Ibis, 
  1 
  861, 
  p. 
  49 
  

   (Hongkong), 
  p. 
  341 
  (Pe-chi-li) 
  ; 
  Sclat. 
  and 
  Wolf, 
  Zool. 
  Sketches, 
  I. 
  1861, 
  pi. 
  37; 
  Lamprey, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  

   London, 
  1862, 
  p. 
  221 
  (Shanghai) 
  ; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Ibis, 
  1862, 
  p. 
  259 
  (Foochow) 
  ; 
  Radde, 
  Ost-Sib. 
  II. 
  1863, 
  p. 
  302 
  ; 
  Sclater, 
  

   List 
  Phas., 
  1863, 
  p. 
  4; 
  Sclater, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  London, 
  1863, 
  p. 
  116; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Ibis, 
  1863, 
  p. 
  481 
  ; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Proc. 
  

   Zool. 
  Soc. 
  London, 
  1863, 
  p. 
  307 
  ; 
  Milne-Edwards, 
  N. 
  Arch. 
  Mus. 
  Bull., 
  I. 
  1865, 
  p. 
  14; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Ibis, 
  1865, 
  p. 
  349; 
  

   Saurin, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  London, 
  1866, 
  p. 
  436 
  (Amour, 
  N. 
  China, 
  Corea) 
  ; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Ibis, 
  1867, 
  pp. 
  390, 
  402 
  

   (Cheefoo); 
  David, 
  N. 
  Arch. 
  Mus. 
  Bull., 
  III. 
  1867, 
  p. 
  37 
  (Mongolia); 
  Gray, 
  List 
  Gall. 
  Brit. 
  Mus., 
  1867, 
  p. 
  27; 
  

   Dybowski, 
  Jour, 
  fur 
  Orn., 
  1868, 
  p. 
  337; 
  David, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  London, 
  1868, 
  p. 
  210; 
  Gray, 
  Hand-list 
  Birds, 
  II. 
  

  

  