J. Delacour-—■Pheasant Notes .* Status at Liberty and in Captivity 271


(P. macrolopha) has been lately imported and bred, but like the

Tragopans and other high mountain Pheasants, it requires much room

and special care. Some of the Chinese forms are now becoming rare

in their native country.


The Kalijs constitute the genus Gennceus, of which the well-known

Silver Pheasant is a member. It is a forest bird, still abundant in

S. China and Tonkin, and completely acclimatized in Europe. South

of its range, several local races are found, which grow darker and

darker as they draw nearer to the Equator ; Berlioz’s and Bel’s

Pheasants are among them; they are fairly well established in

Europe now.


The Annamese Pheasant (G. annamensis), from the southern hills

of Indo-China, has never been imported, but the still darker and very

handsome Lewis’s Pheasant (Gennceus lewisi) was discovered and

imported by myself from the mountains of S. Cambodia. It bred

once at Cleres, but only cocks now remain. I hope to get a new con-

signment soon, but it is not a common species, and its home is one of

the wildest spots in the world. All the above Kalij’s have red legs.


Further west we find the grey-legged forms. The Lineated Kalij,

of Siam and Burma, of which several races exist, has long been

extinct in European aviaries, where hybrids between Black-crested, or

Ilorsfield’s, and Silver Pheasants have too often been mistaken

for it. It is not rare at liberty, and quite pretty with its very fine

vermiculations, giving its upper parts a silvery grey appearance.


Horsfield’s Kali], from Assam and Upper Burma, is common at

liberty and also rather so in captivity, as well as the other black Kalijs

from the Himalayas—-Black-backed, Black-crested, and the prettier

White-crested. All are very hardy and easy to breed and, I think,

quite attractive, if not brightly coloured; they deserve more

popularity than they have now. The curious Silver Pheasant of

Hainan (G. whiteheadi) has never been imported, and seems to be rare

in its island habitat. The different black Kalij would make most

interesting game-birds in our woods.


The beautiful Pheasants of the genus Hierophasis have a much

shorter crest than the Kalijs and the main colour of the cocks is a fine

dark blue. Swinhoe’s Pheasant, from Formosa, is abundant in



