The cheer pheasant ( Catreus wallichii), also known as Wallich's pheasant or chir pheasant, is a vulnerable species of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is the Monotypic taxon in the genus Catreus. The scientific name commemorates Denmark botanist Nathaniel Wallich.
Description
These birds lack the color and brilliance of most pheasants, with buffy gray
Feather and long, gray crests. Its long tail has 18 feathers and the central tail feathers are much longer and the colour is mainly gray and brown. The female is slightly smaller in overall size.
Behaviour and ecology
Males are monogamous. They breed on steep
during summer with a clutch of 10 to 11 eggs.
[Baker, EC Stuart (1918) The game birds of India, Burmay and Ceylon. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 26(1):1-5 scan]
In studies conducted in upper Beas Valley, cheer pheasant was found to be sensitive to human disturbance.
[Jolli, Virat & Pandit, M. K. (2011). " Influence of Human Disturbance on the Abundance of Himalayan Pheasant (Aves, Galliformes) in the Temperate Forest of Western Himalaya, India". Vestnik Zoologii 45 (6): e40-e47.
]
Habitat and distribution
The cheer pheasant is distributed in the highlands and
of the
Himalaya region of
India,
Nepal and
Pakistan. They are found mainly in western Nepal,
Uttarakhand (
Kumaon division and
Garhwal division),
Himachal Pradesh (
Shimla district,
Kullu Valley and
Chamba district), and Jammu and Kashmir in northwestern India, and
Hazara division in northern Pakistan. Surveys in 1981 and 2003 in the
Dhorpatan area of western Nepal established 70 calling sites, suggesting substantial numbers exist in this area (about 200 birds).
[Lelliott, A.D.(1981) Cheer Pheasants in west-central Nepal. World Pheasant Assoc. 6:89-95] In another survey in 2010, cheer pheasants were detected in 21 calling sites in
Kullu district of
Himachal Pradesh.
They are found mainly above 6000 feet altitude and up to 10000 feet in summer.
Status and conservation
Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, and hunting in some areas, the cheer pheasant is evaluated as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
It is listed on Appendix I of
CITES.
Attempts to reintroduce captive-bred cheer pheasants in
Pakistan have been unsuccessful.
==Gallery==
