Syrmaticus mikado
The Mikado Pheasant (Syrmaticus mikado) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. Sometimes considered an unofficial national bird of Taiwan (along with the Swinhoe's pheasant and Taiwan blue magpie), a pair of Mikado pheasants and Yushan National Park, one of the areas it is known to inhabit, is depicted in the 1000 dollar bill of the New Taiwan dollar.

The long and striped tail feathers of the male were used by the Taiwanese aborigines as a head-dress decoration. The type specimen of the pheasant comprises two such tail feathers obtained in 1906 by collector Walter Goodfellow from the head-dress of one of his porters. It was named in honour of the Emperor of Japan, of which Taiwan was occupied by. Its Chinese name, 帝雉 (dìzhì) also translates to "Emperor's Pheasant."[1] Within the Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) it is the designate State bird of the Tai Nationalist Taiwanese Republic[n 1].
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Beebe (1990).