﻿MIKADO 
  PHEASANT 
  

  

  SyrmaticMS 
  mikado 
  (Grant) 
  

  

  Names. 
  — 
  Specific 
  : 
  mikado, 
  the 
  title 
  of 
  the 
  Emperor 
  of 
  Japan, 
  within 
  whose 
  possessions 
  this 
  pheasant 
  lives. 
  

   English 
  : 
  Mikado 
  Pheasant. 
  

  

  Brief 
  Description. 
  — 
  Male 
  : 
  Head 
  blue 
  black 
  ; 
  facial 
  skin 
  red 
  ; 
  neck, 
  breast 
  and 
  mantle 
  black, 
  with 
  a 
  

   purple 
  fringe 
  enclosing 
  a 
  velvety 
  black 
  spot 
  ; 
  rest 
  of 
  upper 
  parts 
  black, 
  with 
  narrow 
  steel-blue 
  fringe 
  ; 
  tail-coverts 
  

   and 
  tail 
  black 
  with 
  white 
  cross-bars 
  ; 
  secondaries 
  and 
  many 
  coverts 
  tipped 
  with 
  white 
  ; 
  posterior 
  under 
  parts 
  black. 
  

   Female: 
  Head 
  and 
  neck 
  olive 
  brown, 
  becoming 
  rufous 
  on 
  crown 
  and 
  nape; 
  ear-coverts 
  black 
  and 
  white; 
  mantle, 
  

   back 
  and 
  rump 
  black, 
  mottled 
  with 
  rufous, 
  and 
  with 
  a 
  conspicuous 
  white 
  arrow-mark 
  or 
  shaft 
  -streak 
  ; 
  scapulars 
  

   and 
  coverts 
  with 
  two 
  black 
  ocelli 
  framed 
  in 
  rufous 
  and 
  olive; 
  secondaries 
  barred 
  with 
  rufous 
  and 
  black 
  ; 
  central 
  

   tail-feathers 
  chestnut, 
  pale 
  buff 
  on 
  margins 
  and 
  mottled 
  with 
  black, 
  with 
  a 
  dozen 
  black 
  cross-bars 
  ; 
  lateral 
  feathers 
  

   with 
  black 
  and 
  white 
  tips 
  ; 
  chin 
  and 
  throat 
  brownish 
  white 
  ; 
  breast 
  olive 
  grey 
  ; 
  belly 
  and 
  sides 
  whitish. 
  

  

  RANGE. 
  — 
  Mount 
  Arizan, 
  central 
  Formosa. 
  

  

  GENERAL 
  ACCOUNT 
  

  

  About 
  the 
  year 
  1906 
  Mr. 
  Walter 
  Goodfellow, 
  while 
  on 
  a 
  collecting 
  expedition 
  in 
  the 
  

   central 
  highlands 
  of 
  Formosa, 
  obtained 
  two 
  long 
  black 
  tail-feathers 
  of 
  a 
  pheasant. 
  

   These 
  were 
  named 
  Calofthasis 
  mikado 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Grant, 
  who 
  wrote 
  of 
  them 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  

   shaped 
  like 
  the 
  central 
  rectrices 
  of 
  Hume's 
  pheasant, 
  were 
  black 
  in 
  colour 
  and 
  crossed 
  

   with 
  a 
  dozen 
  narrow 
  grey 
  bands 
  about 
  38 
  mm. 
  apart. 
  They 
  were 
  imperfect 
  at 
  the 
  base, 
  

   and 
  measured 
  about 
  450 
  mm. 
  in 
  length. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Goodfellow 
  says 
  of 
  these 
  : 
  " 
  I 
  found 
  these 
  feathers 
  in 
  the 
  head-dress 
  of 
  a 
  

   savage, 
  who 
  had 
  come 
  to 
  carry 
  our 
  baggage. 
  He 
  said 
  he 
  had 
  killed 
  the 
  bird 
  on 
  Mount 
  

   Arizan 
  and 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  rare." 
  

  

  These 
  type 
  fragments 
  are 
  now 
  in 
  the 
  British 
  Museum, 
  where 
  I 
  examined 
  them. 
  

   The 
  basal 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  shafts 
  are 
  not 
  imperfect, 
  but 
  bent 
  around 
  a 
  bit 
  of 
  thong 
  and 
  

   bound 
  again 
  to 
  the 
  shaft 
  higher 
  up 
  with 
  brown 
  and 
  red 
  twine. 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  Racu 
  Racu 
  Mountains 
  at 
  seven 
  thousand 
  feet 
  elevation 
  the 
  same 
  collector 
  

   later 
  secured 
  a 
  female 
  pheasant 
  which 
  proved 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  Mikado. 
  

  

  In 
  1907 
  Rothschild 
  described 
  the 
  adult 
  male 
  and 
  argued 
  that 
  this 
  and 
  the 
  allied 
  

   barred-back 
  pheasants 
  should 
  all 
  be 
  included 
  with 
  the 
  true 
  Phasianus. 
  

  

  Another 
  collector 
  who 
  was 
  fortunate 
  enough 
  to 
  observe 
  the 
  Mikado 
  Pheasant 
  was 
  

   Dr. 
  Moltrecht, 
  who, 
  during 
  a 
  stay 
  of 
  three 
  months 
  in 
  Formosa, 
  obtained 
  an 
  adult 
  and 
  an 
  

   immature 
  male, 
  besides 
  shooting 
  a 
  female 
  which 
  he 
  was 
  unable 
  to 
  secure. 
  He 
  says 
  that 
  

   the 
  adult 
  male 
  was 
  shot 
  at 
  an 
  elevation 
  of 
  eight 
  thousand 
  seven 
  hundred 
  feet 
  on 
  Mount 
  

   Arizan, 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  females 
  are 
  to 
  be 
  found 
  at 
  lower 
  elevations. 
  

  

  The 
  sum 
  total 
  of 
  our 
  knowledge 
  of 
  this 
  pheasant 
  in 
  its 
  Formosan 
  haunts 
  is 
  

   contained 
  in 
  the 
  following 
  communication 
  from 
  Mr. 
  Goodfellow. 
  (Ibis, 
  191 
  2, 
  pp. 
  

  

  655-657)- 
  

  

  197 
  

  

  