CHINESE PEACOCK-PHEASANT, 
Eperronier — from Eperon, a spur— is hardly 
known ; except by the figure and description, 
.which Edwards puMished of the Male and Fe- 
male, from the living subjects. 
At first sight," says BufFon, " the Male 
seems to bear some analogy to the PJieasant 
and Peacock, Like them, it has a long tail; 
decorated with spangles, as in the Peacock : 
and some naturalists, abiding by the first im- 
pression, have ranged it with the Pheasants. 
But though, from the consideration of these 
exterior appearances, Edwards has been in- 
duced to retain the name of Peacock-Pheasant, 
he was convinced, on a closer inspection, that 
it did not belong to the Pheasant kind : be- 
cause, first, the long feathers of the tail are 
round, and not pointed at the end ; secondly, 
they are straight throughout, and not arched 
back ; thirdly, they do not make an inverted 
gutter, by the bending back of their webs, as 
in the Pheasant; and, fourthly, it does not 
walk with it's tail raised and recurved, as in 
that bird. Still less does it belong to the Pea- 
cock kind ; from which it differs in the car- 
riage of it's tail, and in the disposition and num- 
ber of the quills that compose it. It is distin- 
guished, 
