The common and scientific names of this large bird both commemorate the ornithologist Samuel Cabot III.

The head of the male is black with reddish-orange streaks on either side and on the neck and similar-coloured bare skin on the cheeks and around the eye.

[4] Cabot's tragopan is endemic to mountain ranges in southeastern China where it is present in the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

Populations are fragmented as it has limited ability to disperse and seems not to move across gaps in forest cover of over 500 metres (1,600 ft).

They then all leave the nest together, the chicks being able to fly soon after they hatch, and remain together for the winter, possibly joining with another family in a small group.

The main threat it faces are loss of habitat as natural forest is converted to agricultural land or plantations of conifers and bamboo.