ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF WHITE CROWNED LONG TAILED PHEASANTS IN GUIZHOU PROVINCE
白冠长尾雉(Syrmaticus reevesii)在贵州的分布与数量

This paper deals with the geographical distribution and abundance of the White crowned long tailed pheasants in Guizhou Province. With respect to their ecological distribution, the white crowned long tailed pheasants in Guizhou are found in the evergreened and deciduous mixed forests as well as in the evergreen woodland. Geographically speaking, the white crowned long tailed pheasants are widely distributed in different localities from North China to southwestern provinces. With regard to population density, the pheasants are quite rare and endangered, and in Guizhou they are restricted in distribution to Yinjiang, Jiangkou, and Songtao in the northeast part, Suiyang, Zunyi, and Jinsha in the northern part, Guiyang, Kaiyang, Qingzhen in the middle part, and Pintang, Guiding, Huishui in the southern part, Bijie, Weining, and Dafang in the northwestern part of Guizhou Province. Their vertical distribution is from 400-500m in Jiangkou and Songtao to 2, 300-2, 600m in Weining and Hezhang. The white crowned long tailed pheasants undertake seasonal wanderings, especially in winter when heavy snows force them to wander from their usual habitat in mountains to cultivated farmlands nearly 300m away. The population density of the white crowned long tailed pheasants in the study area during our counting and transect surveying is summarized in figure 1. The abundance of the white crowned long tailed pheasants is estimated to be roughly 476-519 birds in Guizhou Province. Lack of effective measures of protection has adversely affected distribution of the pheasants resulting in a drastic reduction in their population density.