J. Delacour—The Rheinart's Pheasant or Crested Argus 179


The Rheinart never leaves the thick jungle ; it feeds on berries,

seeds, and insects. In captivity it needs a good deal of meat, fruit,

potatoes, and rich mash. It is common in several localities, particularly

abundant between Tourane and Quangtri in the hills, where we have

obtained many, and to-day they still appear to be as common as ever

in the district. But they are not easily obtained, as they inhabit

unhealthy and difficult localities.


Like the true Argus, the cock Rheinart has a playing ground

where he displays in the breeding season, which seems to last the greater

part of the year, as one finds chicks and young, of different sizes at

the same time, and that almost every month.


The display of the Crested Argus is not very elaborate. The bird

stops dead, his crest fully spread and his neck feathers puffed out,

holding his head low and his neck stretched. Suddenly, he shakes

his wings, utters his call, a long, full and melodious whistle of

three notes, and runs around, spreading his tail sideways, like a

Silver Pheasant.


The hen lays two eggs, pinkish buff, with sometimes small spots

of a darker colour. Exceptionally, at Cleres, I had a clutch of three

eggs. She always lays high up, and it is necessary to hang baskets for

her in trees, otherwise, she will lay from the perch and smash her

eggs. The young take a full year to reach their full size, but the sexes

can be told at four months.


They remind one very much of young Argus and Polyplectrons, and

have the same ways ; they are usually quite tame. They are amongst

the prettiest of young pheasants, having two broad whitish buff lines

along the back, of a striking effect. They require the same treatment

as the Argus. The incubation lasts twenty-six to twenty-seven days,

and when the clutch is taken away at once from the hen, she lays

again every fifteen or twenty days, as much as six times from April

to July.


Young Rheinarts grow slowly and are rather delicate till they are

a full year old. They must be carefully sheltered till May of the following

year—they can be left out afterwards, and I find that adult Rheinarts

are perfectly hardy at Cleres in the open all the year round. I never

saw one with frost-bitten toes, and they have stood without trouble



