2G0 Sir R. H. Scliomburgk on the Birds of Siam. 



The Kai-pba I speak about was quite tame, and ran about in 

 tbe verandah of my residence. Meanwhile a bird was brought 

 to me for sale, said to be the female ; and although it had the 

 character of a Pheasant^ and the want of spurs showed it was a 

 hen, the difference of the plumage was so great that I commenced 

 to doubt whether it was the female of this species. But when 

 I considered what difference there is between the male and 

 female of our Pheasant in the same respect, likewise in Phasianus 

 versicolor, and still more so in the true Fire-backed Pheasant 

 [Euplocamus ignitus) (the female of which, by-the-bye, resembles 

 much the one of the Kai-pha), I did not doubt any longer. I 

 receive sometimes visits from the governors and others of the 

 Lao country, provinces to the north of Siam ; and having 

 learned that it was a native there, I questioned them, and they 

 pronounced unhesitatingly that it was the female, and that it 

 was principally to be found in the eastern states of the Lao or 

 Shang country, especially at Phre or Phe. It is asserted that 

 the bird likewise frequents parts of the Malay peninsula. I 

 saw one in a domesticated state in Mouhnein, which I was told 

 had come from there. Although the Kai-pha, in splendour of 

 plumage, cannot be compared either with the Gold or the Silver 

 Pheasant, still there is something graceful in its figure and 

 stately in its walk. I have already observed that I procured 

 another bird after the one the skin of which I sent home. I 

 allowed him to leave his coop and to walk about in the house, 

 where he picked up insects, apparently more congenial to him 

 than the every-day food of paddy (rice in husk). When he saw a 

 spider or ant crawl up the walls in the room, he would fly 

 up several feet to catch it. He was very partial to plantains 

 and bananas, indeed to almost any kind of fruit : this pre- 

 dilection he may have acquired in his state of domestication. 

 Botli in his coop and when walking about in the verandah, he 

 emitted frequently a faint sound; but when disturbed or alarmed, 

 the sound was harsh ; and when flying up, it was with a whirring 

 noise, similar to that of our Partridges, but stronger. The 

 female, though so different in plumage, has the same manners 

 as the male. I possessed tw^o ; one was quite wild, and could 

 not be allowed to leave the cage, but the other was as tame as 



