﻿REEVES'S 
  PHEASANT 
  157 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  mention 
  in 
  literature, 
  a 
  reference 
  oblique 
  but 
  quite 
  recognizable, 
  we 
  find 
  

   in 
  the 
  journal 
  of 
  the 
  daring 
  Venetian 
  traveller, 
  Marco 
  Polo, 
  who 
  spent 
  the 
  seventeen 
  

   years 
  from 
  1281 
  to 
  1298 
  in 
  Tartary. 
  Eschewing 
  the 
  original 
  text, 
  and 
  following 
  the 
  

   quaint 
  orthography 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  English 
  translation 
  of 
  his 
  work, 
  we 
  read, 
  "There 
  be 
  

   plenty 
  of 
  Feysants 
  and 
  very 
  greate, 
  for 
  1 
  of 
  them 
  is 
  as 
  big 
  as 
  2 
  of 
  ours, 
  with 
  tayles 
  of 
  

   eight, 
  9 
  and 
  tenne 
  spannes 
  long, 
  from 
  the 
  Kingdom 
  of 
  Erguyl 
  or 
  Arguill, 
  the 
  W. 
  side 
  

   of 
  Tartary." 
  There 
  is 
  no 
  other 
  "Feysant" 
  than 
  Reeves 
  to 
  which 
  this 
  description 
  

   could 
  well 
  apply. 
  

  

  Over 
  five 
  hundred 
  years 
  passed 
  without 
  a 
  further 
  reference 
  to 
  the 
  bird. 
  The 
  first 
  

   descriptions 
  in 
  ornithological 
  works 
  were 
  based 
  upon 
  drawings 
  made 
  at 
  second-hand 
  

   and 
  tail 
  feathers. 
  Latham 
  in 
  1823, 
  calling 
  the 
  bird 
  the 
  Bar-tailed 
  Pheasant, 
  says: 
  "I 
  

   had 
  an 
  opportunity 
  of 
  seeing 
  a 
  bundle 
  of 
  thirty 
  or 
  forty 
  of 
  these 
  tail 
  feathers, 
  which 
  

   were 
  brought 
  from 
  China, 
  and 
  I 
  found 
  amongst 
  them 
  specimens 
  of 
  every 
  length 
  from 
  

   18 
  inches 
  to 
  7 
  feet." 
  The 
  first 
  good 
  likeness 
  of 
  this 
  pheasant 
  was 
  published 
  by 
  Tem- 
  

   minck 
  in 
  1830 
  in 
  his 
  "Planches 
  Coloriees" 
  under 
  the 
  erroneous 
  name 
  of 
  veiieratus. 
  

   The 
  previous 
  year 
  J. 
  E. 
  Gray 
  named 
  it 
  after 
  Mr. 
  Reeves. 
  

  

  SYNONYMY 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  superbus 
  Vieill. 
  (nee 
  Linn.) 
  N. 
  Diet. 
  d'Hist. 
  Nat., 
  XI. 
  1817, 
  p. 
  40; 
  Jard. 
  Nat. 
  Lib. 
  Orn., 
  IV. 
  

   1834, 
  p. 
  202 
  ; 
  Lamprey, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc., 
  1862, 
  p. 
  220 
  [N.E. 
  of 
  Pekin]. 
  

  

  Bar-tailed 
  Pheasant 
  Latham, 
  Gen. 
  Hist., 
  VIII. 
  1823 
  ; 
  p. 
  196, 
  pi. 
  CXXIV. 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  reevesii 
  J. 
  E. 
  Gray, 
  in 
  Griff., 
  ed. 
  Cuv., 
  III. 
  1829, 
  p. 
  25 
  ; 
  id. 
  111. 
  Ind. 
  Zool., 
  I. 
  1830-32, 
  pi. 
  39; 
  

   G. 
  R. 
  Gray, 
  List 
  of 
  Birds, 
  pt. 
  III. 
  Gall., 
  1844, 
  p. 
  24; 
  id. 
  Gen. 
  B., 
  III., 
  1845, 
  p. 
  497; 
  Sclater 
  and 
  Wolf, 
  Zool. 
  

   Sket. 
  2, 
  1861, 
  pi. 
  33; 
  Sclater, 
  List 
  of 
  Phas. 
  1863, 
  p. 
  5, 
  pi. 
  1 
  [North 
  and 
  Central 
  China]; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  

   Soc., 
  1863, 
  p. 
  307; 
  Saurin, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc., 
  1866, 
  p. 
  437 
  [Chi-li] 
  ; 
  David, 
  N. 
  Arch. 
  Mus. 
  Bull., 
  III., 
  1867, 
  p. 
  37 
  [near 
  

   Toung-Liu] 
  ; 
  Gray, 
  List 
  Gallinae 
  Brit. 
  Mus. 
  1867, 
  p. 
  28; 
  Bartlett, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  1868, 
  p. 
  115; 
  David, 
  Proc. 
  

   Zool. 
  Soc., 
  1868, 
  p. 
  210 
  ; 
  Gould, 
  B. 
  Asia, 
  VII. 
  1869, 
  pi. 
  33 
  ; 
  Sclater, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1869, 
  p. 
  628 
  ; 
  Gray, 
  Hand-list 
  

   Birds, 
  II. 
  1870, 
  p. 
  258 
  ; 
  Bennett, 
  Wanderings 
  in 
  New 
  South 
  Wales, 
  II. 
  1834, 
  p. 
  55 
  ; 
  David, 
  N. 
  Arch. 
  Mus. 
  Bull., 
  VII. 
  

   1871, 
  p. 
  11 
  [Pekin, 
  Sze-chuen] 
  ; 
  Elliot, 
  Monog. 
  Phas., 
  II. 
  1872, 
  pi. 
  XI. 
  [text]; 
  Garrod, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc. 
  1873, 
  

   p. 
  468; 
  Garrod, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1873, 
  p. 
  640; 
  David 
  and 
  Oustalet, 
  Ois. 
  Chine, 
  1877, 
  p. 
  413 
  [Mts. 
  N. 
  and 
  E. 
  of 
  

   Pekin 
  and 
  between 
  Shen-se, 
  Honan 
  and 
  Sze-chuen]: 
  Ravensw. 
  Tr. 
  N. 
  Durh., 
  VII. 
  1878, 
  pt. 
  I. 
  p. 
  168; 
  Lilford, 
  

   Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1880, 
  p. 
  421; 
  Goodchild, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1S86, 
  p. 
  193; 
  Creagh, 
  Ibis, 
  1S86, 
  p. 
  382; 
  Giinther, 
  

   Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1887, 
  p. 
  503 
  ; 
  Styan, 
  Ibis, 
  1891, 
  pp. 
  329, 
  499 
  [Lower 
  Yangtse] 
  ; 
  Grant, 
  Cat. 
  Game-birds 
  Brit. 
  

   Mus., 
  XXII. 
  1893, 
  p. 
  357; 
  Brandis, 
  Jour, 
  fur 
  Orn., 
  1896, 
  p. 
  301 
  ; 
  Grant, 
  Hand-book 
  Game-birds, 
  II. 
  1897. 
  p. 
  37; 
  

   Tegetmeier 
  Bull. 
  Brit. 
  Orn. 
  Club, 
  VII. 
  1898, 
  p. 
  xxvii, 
  ; 
  Tegetmeier, 
  Ibis, 
  1898, 
  p 
  290; 
  Rothschild, 
  Bull. 
  Brit. 
  

   Orn. 
  Club, 
  XI. 
  1901, 
  p. 
  53 
  ; 
  Giinther, 
  Proc 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1904, 
  pt. 
  I. 
  p. 
  371 
  ; 
  Giinther, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  1904, 
  pt. 
  II. 
  

   p. 
  129; 
  Baturlin, 
  Ibis, 
  1904, 
  pp. 
  378,407, 
  408,413; 
  Tegetmeier, 
  Pheasants, 
  1904, 
  p. 
  178; 
  Rothschild, 
  Bull. 
  Brit. 
  

   Orn. 
  Club, 
  XIV. 
  1904, 
  pp. 
  36, 
  37, 
  58 
  ; 
  Rothschild, 
  Bull. 
  Brit- 
  Orn. 
  Club, 
  XXI. 
  1907, 
  p. 
  24 
  ; 
  Millais, 
  Nat. 
  Hist. 
  Brit. 
  

   Game-birds, 
  1909, 
  p. 
  107; 
  Mitchell, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  191 
  1, 
  p. 
  521 
  ; 
  Thayer 
  and 
  Bangs, 
  Mem. 
  Mus. 
  Comp. 
  Zool. 
  

   Harvard, 
  XL, 
  1912, 
  p. 
  143. 
  

  

  Phasianus 
  veneratus 
  Temminck, 
  PI. 
  Col. 
  V., 
  1830, 
  pi. 
  5 
  [no. 
  485] 
  ; 
  Lesson, 
  Traite 
  d'Orn., 
  1831, 
  p. 
  496; 
  Jard. 
  

   Nat. 
  Lib. 
  Orn., 
  IV 
  1834, 
  pi. 
  XVI. 
  

  

  Synnaticus 
  reevesii 
  Wagler, 
  Isis, 
  1832, 
  p. 
  1229; 
  Swinhoe, 
  Proc. 
  Zool. 
  Soc, 
  187 
  1, 
  p. 
  398; 
  Sharpe, 
  Hand-list 
  

   Birds, 
  I. 
  1899, 
  p. 
  38; 
  Heinroth, 
  Zool. 
  Beobachter, 
  1908, 
  p. 
  21 
  ; 
  Beebe, 
  Zoologica, 
  I. 
  No. 
  15, 
  1914, 
  p. 
  278. 
  

  

  