Tibetan Eared-Pheasant

SCI Name:  Crossoptilon harmani
Protonym:  Crossoptilon harmani Ibis p.399 pl.13
Taxonomy:  Galliformes / Phasianidae / Crossoptilon
Taxonomy Code:  whieap2
Type Locality:  150 miles east of Lhassa, Tibet.
Author:  Elwes
Publish Year:  1881
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

CROSSOPTILON
(Phasianidae; Ϯ White Eared Pheasant C. crossoptilon) Gr. κροσσοι krossoi  tassels, fringe; πτιλον ptilon  feather (cf. specific name Phasianus crossoptilon Hodgson, 1838 (see crossoptilon)); "Genus — new? Crossoptilon *, nob.  Type Phasianus Crossoptilon, nob.  Hab. Tibet.  ...  Like the true pheasant (Colchicus), our bird has no crest of any kind, though the feathers occupying the top of the head are of a peculiar kind, being short, velvety, thickset, erect, with their slightly discomposed and square points recurved a little to the front.  ...  * κροσσος a fringe; πτιλον a feather." (Hodgson 1838); "Crossoptilon Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 7, 1838, p. 864. Type, by monotypy and tautonymy, Phasianus crossoptilon Hodgson." (Peters, 1934, II, p. 110).
Var. Crossoptilum.

crossoptilon
Gr. κροσσοι krossoi  fringe; πτιλον ptilon  feather. Hodgson 1838, wrote of the White Eared Pheasant, “It remains only to notice the plumage of the bird, which constitutes indeed its most remarkable feature. The plumage, then, upon the whole body is very ample, but not at all pointed, unglossed and wholly dishevilled, so as to remind one of the Struthious family. This peculiarity has suggested the name I have applied to the bird - a name which, for the present, may be considered specific, but liable to promotion to generic or subgeneric rank, if the form be proved to be typical, and not merely aberrant  ...  distinguished amongst all its congeners by its ample fringe-like plumage, the dishevilled quality of which is communicated even to the central tail feathers” (Crossoptilon).

harmani
Capt. Henry John Harman (1850-1881) British Army engineer, surveyor in India and Sikkim (Crossoptilon).