The
tail feathers alone, however, are said to reach to 6 and 7 feet, so that
Marco's ten palms was scarcely an exaggeration. These tail-feathers are
often seen on the Chinese stage in the cap of the hero of the drama, and
also decorate the hats of certain civil functionaries.
[Illustration: Reeves's Pheasant]
Size is the point in which the bird fails to meet Marco's description.
In that respect the latter would rather apply to the Crossoptilon
auritum, which is nearly as big as a turkey, or to the glorious Munal
(Lopophorus impeyanus), but then that has no length of tail. The latter
seems to be the bird described by Aelian: "Magnificent cocks which have
the crest variegated and ornate like a crown of flowers, and the tail
feathers not curved like a cock's, but broad and carried in a train like a
peacock's; the feathers are partly golden, and partly azure or
emerald-coloured." (Wood's Birds, 610, from which I have copied the
illustration; Williams, M. K. I. 261; Ael. De Nat. An. XVI. 2.) A
species of Crossoptilon has recently been found by Captain Prjevalsky in
Alashan, the Egrigaia (as I believe) of next chapter, and one also by Abbe
Armand David at the Koko Nor.
