SIAMESE CRESTED FIREBACK 



Lophura diardi (Temminck) 



Names. — Generic : Lophura ; from the Greek X6povt,os, bushy or crested tail ; Specific : diardi, named for 

 the French explorer, M. Diard ; English : Siamese or Diard's Fireback Pheasant ; French : Faisan Prelat j 

 German : Praelat ; Native : Kai-pha. 



Brief Description. — Male : Head and throat black, long tufted crest steel-blue ; neck, mantle, breast and 

 wings grey, finely vermiculated with black ; wing-coverts with a black, white-edged band near the tips ; mid-back 

 shining gold ; lower back and rump bronze-red ; under-parts and tail black, with steel-blue gloss ; face scarlet. 

 Female : Head and neck brown ; mantle, lateral tail-feathers and under-parts chestnut, the lower breast and belly 

 margined with white ; scapulars, wings, central tail-feathers, lower back and rump black, the two latter areas 

 mottled, the others banded with whitish. Face scarlet. 



Range. — Southern Shan States, Siam, Cambodia and Cochin China. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



With its striking contrasts of colour — shining gold and bronze-red — set off by cold 

 grey, together with the long, curved tail-feathers and waving, plumed crest, the Siamese 

 Fireback is one of the handsomest of pheasants. Many are trapped by the Siamese and 

 brought down to the capital, Bangkok, whence they find their way to many of the 

 Zoological Gardens and private aviaries of the world. Yet the most recent volume 

 treating of the pheasants of the Far East begins and ends with the statement that 

 *' Nothing is known of the habits of this splendid Fireback ! " 



I was not able to observe it in its home, and can rely only on the meagre information 

 which I obtained from residents, whose chief knowledge of the bird was that it was 

 almost impossible to see and shoot, but when procured was a superb addition to the 

 daily "chow"! 



Bamboo thickets appear to be its favourite haunt, as two of my correspondents give 

 this as a reason for the impossibility of following up a bird. It leaves these dense 

 impenetrable tangles in the early morning and comes into more open jungle, preferably 

 near the banks of rivers, to feed and drink. A sportsman who was accustomed to sit up 

 in wait for tigers, more than once saw a pair of Diard's Firebacks come forth from the 

 close-growing ranks of great bamboos and scratch about in the forest mould. 



The natives report it as a stupid bird, and very easily trapped with simple hair or 

 wire nooses set in runways, or about some food strewn upon the jungle debris. When 

 a camp or more permanent building is erected in the forest, if the locality has been a 

 favourite feeding-place pf Firebacks, the birds do not desert at once, but after the first 

 alarm has passed they return, and occasionally in early morning are seen near the 

 clearing. This is especially true if cattle or buffalo are kept, the birds finding much 

 insect food in the vicinity of these animals. 



The Siamese Fireback has been hatched and reared several times in the gardens 



of the London Zoological Society, but apparently no record has been kept of either eggs 



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