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The Display of Rhelnart's Pheasant



THE DISPLAY OF RHEINART’S PHEASANT


Rheinart’s Pheasant (Rheinardia ocellata) was for a number of

years known only from a single tail-feather reposing in the Paris

Museum. Later specimens were collected in Annam. To Mr. Delacour

belongs the credit of introducing the living bird to Europe. He has

spent many months in French Indo-China, and has heard the call of

this fine bird in the densely wooded mountain slopes, but he has never

seen the bird wild, and it is doubtful whether anyone else has done

so, for it lives in the densest jungle which is well-nigh impenetrable to

a human being, and the only way of securing it is by means of nooses

set in its runs, a method of trapping at which the natives are very

skilful.


It is not a gaily-coloured bird by any means, its chief colours being

dull browns and greys of various shades, the plumage spotted throughout

with white spots, like a Guineafowl. The cock has a wonderful tail,

the feathers being of great length and breadth, and spotted with

chestnut as well as white. A crest decorates the back of the head,

but as a rule this hangs as a few inconspicuous, dark, hair-like feathers,

while similar feathers grow from the cheeks.


These forest Pheasants are not fond of the sun, and if one wishes

to witness a display by the cock to the hen, a gloomy morning in April

or May must be selected. It was on such a morning that I first saw

the cock Rheinart’s Pheasant display. From a considerable distance

I noticed a conspicuous white object nearly the size of a tennis ball

moving about in the enclosure. It was too dull to distinctly see the

bird itself, but this white object was clearly visible. As I came nearer

I noticed that the appearance of the cock bird was completely altered

by the presence of what looked like a large, white powder-puff on the

top of his head. From beneath the ordinarily visible and inconspicuous

crest had appeared this snowy white tuft of the finest down-like plumes

while his cheek plumes were thrown forward.


Apart from this extraordinary head ornament the actual display

was not nearly so striking as that of the Argus Pheasant with his

wonderfully decorated and overgrown secondary wing feathers. The

bird runs round the hen with his very broad tail made even broader



