178 0. Heinroth—The Pairing Display of Bulwer’s Pheasant


The shape and colour of the cock bird may be seen from the accom¬

panying illustrations ^ besides the blue facial lobes the snow-white

tail is particularly characteristic and on closer examination is remark¬

able in that it consists of 15 to 16 pairs of feathers, the largest number

of any bird. According to Beebe, the hen has only 26 tail feathers and

the cock when not in full plumage 24 ; the increase to 30-32 comes

about by the middle upper tail covering growing into tail feathers.

The outer 6-7 pairs are not tipped and have the appearance of being

worn down ; however, they are like this from the beginning, so that

“ they come into the world worn I would class them as scraping

feathers, for during pairing they are pressed against the ground as the

bird moves forward and produce a rustling sound among the leaves.

Beebe noticed that in the wild state dry leaves were actually impaled

on these feathers.


In the autumn of 1930 the freshly plumaged cock-bird started to

display (it was kept completely in the open air in a section of the

Pheasantry together with some other Pheasants) and continued to do

so until the cold weather set in, recommencing in the early spring.

One yellow-tailed hen Pheasant (Acomus erythrophthalmus (Raffles)

attached herself to him and became the object of his attentions, but

mating was, however, not observed and the hen laid no eggs. The

cock moulted in the late autumn, when almost all the tail feathers fell,

and about eight weeks later they had completely grown again.


Since the bird generally remained in the rear part of its enclosure

and was often concealed under the leaves and grass, it was very

difficult to photograph. The water-colour in my possession,

which was painted by my wife, Kathe, formed the basis of the

coloured plate and was itself reproduced from a photograph and

also from my observations of the living bird. I can therefore vouch

for its correctness, since I have very frequently seen the cock bird

displaying. In the picture of the bird its lack of corpulence is quite

correct, for it has an incredibly flat appearance which makes it difficult

to ascertain the shape. It looks to a certain extent as if a large white

disc had been inserted from behind into a plaquette, all detail being

rather blurred. The right and left halves of the tail lie evenly on each

other, which is rather strange, as one thinks involuntarily of the wheel-



