Hume's pheasant  (Syrmaticus humiae)

Like many pheasants in East Asia, Hume's pheasant is undergoing a continuing decline across much its range in the face of heavy exploitation and habitat loss (8). This bird is widely hunted for food, particularly by hill tribes, including in protected areas, and its preference for paths, small clearings and open woodlands renders it particularly exposed and susceptible to hunting pressure (7). However, the bird's persistence in northern India and Thailand, where it is heavily exploited, suggests that it is fairly resilient and can withstand hunting to some degree (8). Suitable habitat has been destroyed and severely fragmented by extensive shifting cultivation, conversion to agriculture, logging and uncontrolled annual burning in Myanmar, China and India. Agricultural intensification, road-building and other development projects have diminished habitat in northern Thailand, where reforestation of large areas with dense conifer plantations may also pose a threat (7) (8).

Hume's pheasant is legally protected throughout its range, and populations exist in several protected areas (8). However, hunting and habitat loss evidently persist in at least some of these reserves and national parks, particularly in north-west Thailand, Myanmar and north-east India. Regulations against poaching and habitat encroachment therefore need to be more strictly enforced, especially in protected areas supporting significant populations (7).