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tragopan (TRAG-uh-pan) - n., any of five Asian pheasants (genus Tragopan), the male of which has brilliant plumage, a brightly colored wattle, and two hornlike appendages on the head.
Said horns inflate during courtship, for added display power. Also known as a horned pheasant. The name dates to around 1620, from New Latin, reuse of Latin tragopān, the name of fabulous bird from Ethiopia described as being larger than an eagle (the word bird is nowhere near that big) with curved horns like a goat on its temples, from Greek trágopān, from trágos goat + Pā́n, the god Pan -- so it's a goat-horned-Pan bird. This one is a Temminck's tragopan (Tragopan temminckii), which ranges from northeast India to central China, though it's hard to make out the horns with the pic this small:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
---L.
Said horns inflate during courtship, for added display power. Also known as a horned pheasant. The name dates to around 1620, from New Latin, reuse of Latin tragopān, the name of fabulous bird from Ethiopia described as being larger than an eagle (the word bird is nowhere near that big) with curved horns like a goat on its temples, from Greek trágopān, from trágos goat + Pā́n, the god Pan -- so it's a goat-horned-Pan bird. This one is a Temminck's tragopan (Tragopan temminckii), which ranges from northeast India to central China, though it's hard to make out the horns with the pic this small:
Thanks, WikiMedia!
---L.
