CHAPTER SX YV'T. 
PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY (CONTINUED). 
THE AMHERST PHEASANT (THAUMALEA 
AMHERSTIZ2). 
ADY AMHERST’S Pheasant was first made known to Europeans by, 
two male specimens presented by the King of Ava to Sir Archibald 
\~ Campbell, and by him given to Lady Amherst, who retained them 
7 in India for about two years, and succeeded in bringing both alive 
& to England, where, however, they lived only a few weeks. These 
specimens were figured and described under the title of Phasianus 
amherstie by Mr. B. Leadbeater in the Linnean Transactions for 
1828. Since that time until recently no living specimens have 
been seen in Europe, and in 1863 the male was figured in Mr. 
P. L. Sclater’s list of desiderata required by the Zoological Society. 
The successful re-introduction of this remarkable species is entirely owing to the 
combined efforts of Mr. J. J. Stone and Mr. W. Medhurst, Her Majesty’s Consul 
at Shanghai, who obtained twenty specimens in Western Yunan, eight of which 
reached Shanghai alive, and six—five males and one female—were successfully 
located in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, in July, 1869. Since that time 
other specimens have been obtained, and there is now no fear of this magnificent 
bird being lost to this continent, as it has bred freely in confinement. 
‘The general appearance of the species is strikingly beautiful. The accom- 
panying engraving, though giving very correctly the general character, necessarily 
fails in imparting any idea of the coloration of the male. The irides are light, the 
naked skin of the face is light blue, the feathers of the forehead are green, but 
the long plumes which form the ‘crest are crimson. The tippet, which is so 
characteristic a feature in the bird, is white, each feather being margined with a dark 
‘green band, and having a second narrow band at some distance from the tip. The 
front of the neck, the breast, shoulders, back, and wing-coverts are of an exquisite 
metallic green, each feather being tipped with velvety black. The lower part of the 
R 
