Swinhoe's pheasant

Swinhoe's pheasant

Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Subfamily:	Phasianinae
Genus:	Lophura
Species:	L. swinhoii
Binomial name
*Lophura swinhoii* (Gould, 1863)

Swinhoe's pheasant (Lophura swinhoii) is a bird of the pheasant subfamily in the fowl family Phasianidae. It is endemic to Taiwan.

Description

The male has a glossy blue-purple chest, belly and rump, white nape, red wattles, white tail feathers, and a white crest. The female is brown marked with yellow spots and complex barring patterns, and has maroon outer rectrices.

During display, the male's wattles become engorged and he performs a display consisting of a hop followed by running in a circle around females.

Habitat

The bird is limited to the mountains of central Taiwan, where it lives in forest habitat up to 2,300 meters in elevation.^[1]

Swinhoe's pheasant eats seeds, fruits, and some insects and other animal matter.

The female lays a clutch of 2 to 6 eggs which are incubated for 25 to 28 days. The young can leave the nest at 2 to 3 days old.

Conservation

This pheasant has a small population in a limited range which is shrinking due to habitat degradation. Logging is a problem. Some populations are secure within protected areas, but others may be declining. It was hunted in the past and some populations were extirpated in the 1960s and 1970s. Today its global population is estimated to be over 10,000 individuals.^[1]

Etymology

The bird was named after the British naturalist Robert Swinhoe, who first described the species in 1862.

References