Alex Hampe—Once More the Blue Crossoptilon



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for the tail feathers of Crossoptilon auritum for the hats of high

Mandarins, and later on these feathers were exported in quantities

to Europe and America for millinery purposes. Crossoptilons are not

easy to catch or to shoot, and, to satisfy the demand for the feathers,

the Chinese collected the eggs of the wild birds and hatched them

under domestic hens and later also bred from the birds obtained in

this way. The demand for feathers has died out now but the Chinese

still breed the Pheasant, probably for eating. M. Delacour states

further in the Bulletin of the Societe Nationale d’Acclimatation de

France, that Crossoptilon auritum had not been imported before 1929.

I doubt whether this is correct, for I have an old book before me written

by M. Cronau, of Strasbourg, who, in years gone by was surely the

biggest breeder and one of the greatest authorities on gallinaceous

birds on the Continent. In this book M. Cronau gives a description

of his aviaries and their contents and he states that three of his aviaries

are inhabited by Crossoptilon auritum and three by Crossoptilon man-

churicum, so he must have had our bird. Also in the book Geflugelzucht

(poultry-keeping) by Bruno Duerigen, our Pheasant is correctly

described and must have been known to the author. Anyhow,

Crossoptilon auritum seems to be established now in Europe, and I hope

breeders will do their best not to lose him again.


It is an everlasting regret for me that I have not been able to bring

the White Crossoptilon ( C . tibetanum ) to Europe. I was very near to

success in 1930. One of my Chinese friends went on business to

Tachienlu, a town on the border of Szechuen and Tibet. Naturally,

I asked him to bring me some White Crossoptilons, showed him a

coloured plate of the bird, and gave him detailed prescriptions for

feeding and packing the birds. He really got four birds, but fearing

that he would be robbed of his furs and skins which he had bought

in Tachienlu while travelling back to Shanghai through the Yangtze

Valley, he chose the route for going home via Yunnan, French Indo-

China, and Hong-Kong. It was very hot and in Hanoi his birds died,

and all I got was a few tail feathers. I sincerely hope that others may

be more successful and also bring us the two Impeyans which live in

China. It should not be so difficult to obtain Lophophorus V Huy si,

but I have my grave doubts whether Sclater’s Monaul will ever decorate

our aviaries.



