This pheasant was discovered in the mountains of the Chinese province of Chekiang by Robert Swinhoe (1836-1877), during his final years in China when he was H.M. Consul in Ningpo. Swinhoe dedicated this new species to the American zoologist, Dr Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835-1915), Curator of the Chicago Field Museum, who was in the process of compiling a magnificent book on pheasants, illustrated by Joseph Wolf. The pheasants are depicted about four-fifths lifesize.
R. Swinhoe, Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1872, p.550
D.G. Elliot, Monograph of the Phasianidae, 1873, II, pl.13 b. DISTRIBUTION: Southeastern China in provinces of Kiangsi, southern Anhwei, Chekiang, Fukien and northern Kwangtung. Listed as threatened and vulnerable because of agricultural encroachment and deforestation