Nicknamed as terra chaffinch, pine frizzle and mute fowl, the bird belongs to the Phasianidae family of Galliformes order. Its scientific name is Syrmaticus humiae (Latin), or Black-necked long-tailed pheasant (English).
It is a medium-size fowl genus, with a full body-length of around 55 centimeters. The male bird has breen vertex, with white superciliary strias on both sides. The upper back is covered by violet maroon feathers with black spot, and the scapular has wide white lumpy spots. On the lower back, waist and tectices of the tail, there are white feathers with blue black spots. Feathers on the wings are dun. The bird has long tail with gray rectrices, on which there are parallel black-maroon transverse spots. The belly of the lower body and the two side of the upper body are maroon. The beak and feet are yellowish gray. The body feathers of female birds are tan and full of black dapples, with white arrow-shaped spots in the upper back. The outer rectrices are mainly maroon.
It mostly inhabits in wide meadows and sparse forests of rock sidehills at an elevation of 1,000 to 3,000 meters, feeding on acorn, berry, burgeons, tree roots and insects. From March to April, they can often be seen in a group of one male and two females, beginning to build nests and lay eggs. The nests are usually built on ground, and the average number of eggs per brood is 7 to 9. The color of eggs is light incarnadine or slightly like filemot, smooth and without spots. The incubation period lasts about 28 days, with the female bird hatches alone.
Endemic to China, Black-necked Long-tailed Pheasant is a kind of resident bird, mainly distributed in Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It has been listed in Appendix I ofInternational Trade Convention on Endangered Wild Animal and Plant Species.
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