388 Hans Stefani—Breeding the Blue Eared-Pheasant


BREEDING THE BLUE EARED-PHEASANT


(Crossoptilon auritum ) IN CONFINEMENT


By Hans Stefani


The Blue Eared-Pheasant is unquestionably among the very rarest

of Pheasants. Although it was discovered as early as 1811 as recorded

by Brehur, it was only last year that a healthy breeding pair was

successfully brought to Europe, so that notwithstanding attempts

by well-known connoisseurs 120 years elapsed before the first attempt

could be made at breeding it in captivity. This is easily comprehensible

when its rarity even in its native country and the great difficulty of

transporting it to the coast are taken into consideration.


In the autumn of last year I was enabled to realize my long-standing

intention of obtaining a true pair of Blue Eared-Pheasants. They

arrived at the beginning of December after a journey of 20,000

kilometres, not merely living but actually in good health, though not

until several weeks had elapsed did I dare even hope as much. Fortune

was still kinder in that after some months I saw from their

behaviour that I had a true pair. I could not ascertain this fact at

once because the plumage of Eared-Pheasants is alike in both sexes.

True, the hens have no spurs, but neither have the young cocks, so

there was always the possibility that my “ pair ” would turn out to be

merely an old and a young male bird. My last fear, that one of them

was very old and therefore past breeding, proved to be unfounded.

The first egg was laid on the 21st of April. Although the long enclosure

was planted with growing hedges affording ample opportunity for

concealment, the hen chose a fairly open corner of her shelter behind

a few dry sticks stuck in the ground, where with beak and feet she

dug a trough-like scrape. The egg was pale greyish brown and weighed

55 gr. It was pointed at one end and very blunt at the other, but

this may be merely a peculiarity of my hen, for I know that some of

the Brown Crossoptilons lay similarly shaped eggs while others lay

long ovals.


The second egg was laid three days later, and the third to the eighth

at intervals of two days, but there was only one day between the

eighth and ninth ; this was noticeably smaller than its predecessors,

and it only weighed 38 gr. whereas all the rest weighed practically



