CHINESE PHEASANT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 176, 25 June 1935, Page 3

CHINESE PHEASANT.

SHOT AT NGAItUA. Oil exhibition in the window of a Te Aroha business firm is something very rare in game birds, writes a correspondent. It is a Chinese golden crested pheasant, which for colouring of plumage must rank with the most noted in this respect in the Southern Hemisphere. During the present shooting season the bird was shot by a Ngarua sportsman, who in the excitement of a brief tour near his home momentarily mistook it for an ordinary cock pheasant. The exhibit, which lias been beautifully mounted and enclosed in a glass case, in size is slightly larger than a bantam fowl, but in type is a bird of rare beauty. The body is of rich red, the thick crest of a distinct golden hue, the deep cusps lined with orange and black, while deep orange feathers are the coloured feature of the back. The legs are of rich green, and the tail of grey ,and black measures 2ft. 6in. long. In beauty of plumage nothing similar has ever been seen in this district, while sportsmen who for years past have been all over the shooting country aver they have never previously seen a pheasant of the kind.