The kalij pheasant is a pheasant found in forests and thickets, especially in the Himalayan foothills, from Pakistan to western Thailand. Males are rather variable depending on the subspecies involved, but all have an at least partially glossy bluish-black plumage, while females are overall brownish. Both sexes have a bare red face and greyish legs. It is generally common and widespread, though three of its eastern subspecies are considered threatened and L. l. moffitti is virtually unknown in the wild. The name is also spelled kaleege in old texts, such as Game Birds of India and Asia by Frank Finn, though no longer in his IndianSporting Birds. The species was introduced to Hawaii in 1962 as a gamebird.
Taxonomy
The kalij pheasant is closely related to the silver pheasant, and the two are known to hybridize. The placement of the taxaL. l. lineata and L. l. crawfurdi has been a matter of dispute, with some treating them as subspecies of the kalij pheasant and others as subspecies of the silver pheasant. They have greyish legs as in the kalij pheasant, but their plumage is closer to that of some subspecies of the silver pheasant. Additionally, as the silver pheasant, L. l. lineata and L. l. crawfurdi are found east of the Irrawaddy River, a major zoogeographic barrier, while all other subspecies of the kalij pheasant are found west of the river. Based on mtDNA, it was recently confirmed that L. l. lineata and L. l. crawfurdi should be regarded as subspecies of the kalij pheasant.
Subspecies
The nine recognized subspecies of the kalij pheasant are, in taxonomic order:
L. l. hamiltoni – white-crested kalij pheasant – western Himalayas
L. l. melanota – black-backed kalij pheasant – Sikkim and western Bhutan
L. l. moffitti – black kalij pheasant – central Myanmar
L. l. lathami – Horsfield's pheasant – eastern Bhutan and northern India to Myanmar
L. l. williamsi – Williams' kalij pheasant – western Myanmar
L. l. oatesi – Oates' kalij pheasant – southern Myanmar
L. l. crawfurdi – Crawfurd's pheasant – southeastern Myanmar to peninsular Thailand
L. l. lineata – lineated pheasant – southern Myanmar to northwestern Thailand
Description
Males have a total length of and females. Height is... Very roughly, the subspecies can be divided into two main groups, with the first being found in the western and central part of the species' range, while the second is found in the eastern part. In the males of the first group, most of plumage is glossy blue-black, though with white to the rump or underparts in most subspecies, and in L. l. hamiltoni, the westernmost subspecies, the crest is white. In the second group, the underparts and crest are glossy blue-black, but the tail and upperparts are white with most feathers densely vermiculated with black. Females are brownish. In some subspecies, the underparts are distinctly marked in whitish and black, while in others, most feathers are pale-edged, resulting in a scaly appearance.
