REEVES' PHEASANT (_Phasianus Reevesii_, or _P. veneratus_) represents a
group, called by Wagler _Syrmaticus_, remarkable for their great length
of tail and unusually variegated plumage. In this species the top of
the head, ear-tufts, and a broad line around the throat are pure white;
the sides of the head and a wide band across the breast are black, the
feathers on the mantle, rump, and upper breast are golden yellow, edged
with black; those of the lower breast and side whitish grey, decorated
with a slender heart-shaped line, broadly edged with brownish red, and
those of the belly brownish black. The feathers of the upper wing-covers
are blackish brown, bordered with two lighter shades of brown; the quills
are striped golden yellow and brownish black; and the tail-feathers
silver-grey, dotted with red spots, surrounded by a black line, and
broadly bordered with golden yellow. The eye is reddish, the beak and foot
greyish yellow. This species resembles the Silver Pheasant in its general
size, but has a streaming tail about six feet in length.
Considerable confusion respecting the nomenclature of this remarkable
bird has been occasioned by the late M. Temminck having, in his "Histoire
Naturelle Generale des Pigeons et des Gallinacés," assigned its two
lengthened tail-feathers to the old _Phasianus superbus_ of Linnæus, an
error which he subsequently corrected, when describing and figuring this
bird in his "Planches Colorées" as _P. veneratus_. M. Temminck's error was
adopted by Dr. Latham; and hence, while the description of the Barred-tail
Pheasant, in his "General History of Birds" (Vol. VIII., p. 190), has
reference to the old _P. superbus_, some of his remarks apply to the
present species. It is probable that the bird did not escape the notice of
the celebrated Marco Polo, since he states "there be plenty of Feysants
and very great, for 1 of them is as big as 2 of ours, with Tayles of
eygth, nine, and ten spannes long, from the kingdom of Erguyl or Arguill,
the western side of Tartary;" but we question if he ever saw more than
the central tail-feathers, which, being held in great estimation, were
considered to be suitable presents to foreigners, and hence these feathers
found their way to Europe many years before the entire bird. Through Mr.
Reeves, after whom this species was named by Dr. Gray, we obtained the
sight of the skin of a male, and afterwards some parts of a female. He
also brought a female in 1838, and both were living in the Zoological
Gardens at the same time, but did not breed. Another, brought from China
in 1862, lived at Mr. Kelk's seat, near Edgware, among other Pheasants, at
perfect liberty and in excellent health, for two years. Since the Chinese
War, living examples have successfully bred in more than one menagerie,
both in England and on the Continent.
"The successful introduction of the living birds now in this country,"
says Mr. Tegetmeier, in the _Field_ for June 7, 1867, "is owing to the
combined efforts of Mr. John J. Stone, and Mr. Walter Medhurst, H.M.
Consul at Hankow."
Latham saw at Sir Joseph Banks's some drawings taken from a curious
collection of ancient porcelain, representing a sham-fight on the water
for the Emperor's amusement, supposed to be between his Tartarian
and Chinese subjects, personated by the females of his seraglio, the
chieftains of the former having one of the barred feathers of this species
on each side of the bonnet, and the opponents, or Chinese, having two
feathers of a Pheasant of a smaller kind, probably a Golden one; hence he
concludes that the present bird is a native of Tartary, and not unlikely
to be as common there as the other is in China.
Dr. Bennett, in his "Wanderings in New South Wales," writes as
follows:--"In Mr. Beale's splendid aviary and gardens at Macao, the
beautiful _Phasianus veneratus_ of Temminck, or _P. Reevesii_ of Gray, now
commonly known by the name of Reeves' Pheasant, was seen. It is the Che
Kai of the Chinese. The longest tail-feathers of this bird are six feet
in length, and are placed in the caps of the players when acting military
characters. This I observed in Canton, where some of the beautiful
tail-feathers (rather in a dirty condition, like the actors themselves,
who in their tawdry dresses reminded me of the sweeps in London on a
May-day) were placed erect on each side of their caps as a decoration. The
Chinese do not venerate this bird, as was at first supposed, and which
may have caused Temminck to bestow upon it the name of _Veneratus_, but
it is superstitiously believed that the blood is possessed of poisonous
properties, and that the mandarins, when in expectation of losing their
rank and being suddenly put to death by order of the Emperor, preserve
some of it upon a handkerchief in a dried state, on sucking which they
fall down and instantly expire."
Mr. Beale's first male specimen, obtained in 1801, was kept in a healthy
state for thirteen years. After its death he endeavoured to procure
others, but did not succeed until 1831, when four specimens were brought
from the interior and purchased by him for 130 dollars. These were, I
believe, subsequently taken to England by Mr. Reeves.
* * * * *
The GOLDEN PHEASANTS (_Thaumalea_) are distinguishable from the birds
above described by the comparatively small size of their bodies, their
slender forms, bushy crest, and very long tail. The neck of the male is
adorned with a remarkable collar of feathers that covers the nape, and is
broadest under the chin.