Kalij Pheasant - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Kalij Pheasant is closely related to the Silver Pheasant and the two are known to hybridize. The placement of the taxa lineata and 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, lineata and 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 (oatesi, a subspecies of the Kalij Pheasant, has sometimes been reported as occurring east of that river, but this is incorrect). Based on mtDNA, it was recently confirmed that lineata and crawfurdi should be regarded as subspecies of the Kalij Pheasant.