170 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



known in our parks and menageries than it is at 

 present. 



Refulgent Lancecrest. 



Lophophorus refulgens, Temminck. 



Phasianus Impeyanus, Latham, Ind. Orn. u. 632. Impeyan 

 Pheasant, Lath. Syn. Supp. 208. pi. 114. Lophophorus 

 resplendens, Temminck, Pig. et Gal ii. 355. 



Although this truly refulgent bird has never yet, so 

 far as we are informed_, been brought to England alive, 

 there seems to be no valid reason why the attempt 

 would not, with sufficient care, succeed. It is true that 

 lady Impey, many years ago, attempted to bring some 

 over with her from India to this country ; yet, although 

 the trial was unsuccessful, we apprehend the failure 

 was more likely to have been caused by incidental 

 than by insuperable difficulties. A voyage from India, 

 forty years ago, was a very different thing to what it is 

 now, both as to time, and comfort, and convenience ; 

 and the few slight notices we possess of the species in 

 question, so far from being unfavourable to the idea of 

 its not enduring the climate of this country, are of a 

 directly opposite tendency. According to Dr. Latham *, 

 who seems to have derived his information from lady 

 Impey herself, these birds only inhabit the mountains 

 in Northern Hindostan ; so that, when brought to the 

 plains of Calcutta, they were regarded as a curiosity : 

 hence they bear cold very well, but are said to be 

 impatient of heat ; and although wild in their native 

 state, they soon became reconciled to confinement. 

 Lady Impey's specimens were fed upon rice in the 

 husk, upon which, it seems, they thrived very well for 

 two months of the voyage ; and their death was alto- 

 gether attributed to a disorder caught from the other 

 poultry in the ship. With these facts upon record, we 

 trust that such friends or members of our new Orni- 

 thological Society as may be in India, will use their 



'^ Gen. Hist, of Birds, p. 211, 



