N. WhaHon-Tigar—London Zoo Notes



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spangled variety of the Silver Pheasant. Then there is the Black¬

breasted Kaleege [Gennseus horsfeldi Gray) which used to be called the

Purple Kaleege, from Eastern Bhutan, Assam, and Upper Burma ;

and the Black-backed Kaleege ( Gennseus melanotis Blyth) from Native

and British Sikhim and Western Bhutan, a handsome little Pheasant

this—but the Kaleege group are less interesting than others because

they interbreed so easily, consequently there are so many forms, but

the Imperial Pheasant is an exception, Gennseus imperialis or, as the

Zoo now call it, Hierophasis imperialis. This is probably the rarest

variety of Pheasant in the collection. These are a pair which were

received from Mr. Delacour in 1928 : this beautiful Pheasant is a small

shining navy blue bird, with red face and legs, a small crest slightly

flecked with wdiite ; the hen is cinnamon brown with red face, she

was moulting when examined, so cannot say whether she has a crest.

No textbook could be found in the Zoo Library giving any account of

this Pheasant, and Mr. Delacour who could, and I know would, tell

us all about it, is at present very far away.


Another very rare Pheasant is Bulwer’s Whitetailed-wattled

Pheasant [Lobiaphasus bulweri Sharp) from Central Borneo, brought

over by Lord Moyne in April, 1936. In its native jungle this bird must

be an amazing sight with its glorious sweeping white tail. Mr. Seth-

Smith tells me it has a most wonderful display, and Dr. Heinroth

in Berlin has illustrated it by a most excellent drawing, which it is

hoped may some day be published. He also thought it very likely that

Miss Chawner had seen the display when Mr. Spedan Lewis had

this rare Pheasant. Beebe gives this brief description of the male :

“ Neck all around and upper breast crimson, remaining plumage black,

all the feathers margined with steel blue, upper tail coverts and tail

pure white, bare skin of head and wattles bright blue, legs and feet red.

The immature male has the tail coverts and tail chestnut and

resembles the female.”


Yet another rare and interesting variety in the collection is the

Mikado Pheasant ( Syrmaticus mikado), Mt. Arizan, Central Formosa.

I find this Pheasant was first discovered by Mr. Walter Goodfellow,

who brought home two long black and white tail feathers he found in

the head-dress of a savage carrying his luggage. The man said he killed



