Eared pheasant


The eared pheasants are birds in the genus Crossoptilon in the family Phasianidae. Established by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1838, the genus contains four species:
ImageNameCommon nameDistribution
Crossoptilon crossoptilonWhite eared pheasantChina, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Tibet
Crossoptilon harmaniTibetan eared pheasantsoutheast Tibet and adjacent northern India
Crossoptilon mantchuricumBrown eared pheasantnortheastern China
Crossoptilon auritumBlue eared pheasantcentral China

The name Crossoptilon is a combination of the Greek words krossoi, meaning "fringe" and ptilon, meaning "feather"— a name Hodgson felt particularly applied to the white eared pheasant “distinguished amongst all its congeners by its ample fringe-like plumage, the dishevelled quality of which is communicated even to the central tail feathers”. All are large, sexually monomorphic and found in China.