With an alias of striation-back fowl, the bird belongs to the Phasianidae family of Galliformes. Its scientific name is Syrmaticus reevesii (Latin), or white-necked long-tailed pheasant (English).
The male bird has a body-length of about 80 centimeters, and female bird is about 50 centimeters long. The cock is dun on the head, hoar on scruff and side of the neck, and black on the chin, larynx and fore neck. The upper back and chest is maroon, dispersed with black spots. The lower back and waist is black and sparkling blue, with white transverse spots and feather brim. The remiges are brown or light maroon, mixed with fine lines. The rectrices are long and olive gray, in most part, with wide maroon transverse spots. It has white belly, khaki beak, and dark gray feet.
Female birds have tan body feathers in most part. The upper portion of the body is fully interspersed with black stripes, with white arrow-shaped spots in the back.
They inhabit in rugged uplands and valley jungles at the elevation of 300 to 1,000 meters, and are mostly seen in broadleaf forests and mixed broadleaf-conifer forests, as well as in flourishing canebrake and underwood. They feed mainly on legume, berries and young leaves. Usually they begin to breed in the middle ten days of March. Their nests are built in comparatively ulterior woods, below the rocks in forest fringes, at the bottom of trees or on the ground of bush woods. They lay 5 to 8 eggs per nest, which are creamy white, light rosy or yellow, without spots. Eggs are hatched by female birds, and the brooding period lasts about 24 days.
Endemic to China, White-necked Long-tailed Pheasant lives in Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, 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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