LADY AMHERST PHEASANT 31 



says : "This species is about as common as the last mentioned (Phasianus elegans), and 

 is found at fairly high elevations, usually in forest. It is difficult to make individuals 

 fly, and when they rise they do so without crowing and with very little noise of the 

 wings. They appear to be 'soft' birds, very easily killed. The note is a peculiar 

 rasping sound. Specimens were obtained in W. Yunnan at 7,000 feet, and in Kweichow 

 at 7,700 feet." The males seem always conspicuous, and invariably it was that sex 

 which caught my eye. If a hen was in view and the male hidden amid the bamboo, the 

 chances were overwhelmingly against my seeing her first. The white cape and tail 

 assimilated with nothing that I could see, and stood out strongly even when the bird 

 was motionless. 



The first birds to be brought to Europe were two living males, the original account 

 of which I shall give under Early History. As we have seen, Mr. Leadbeater described 

 and figured these in the "Transactions of the Linnaean Society" for 1828. For many 

 years after this no more specimens were obtained ; indeed it was 1869 before the species 

 was represented in the London Zoological Gardens. In July of this year five males and 

 a female were deposited. Of these we read (Sclater, " Proc. Zool. Soc," 1869, P- 4^8): 

 "After many unavailing efforts, Mr. Stone had succeeded in adding this magnificent 

 pheasant to the list of introduced species. Unfortunately, only one female survived to 

 reach this country, the rest being males, adult or in change of plumage. The female of 

 the Amherst's Pheasant was previously unknown, but turned out, as might have been 

 anticipated, to resemble nearly the corresponding sex in the gold pheasant {Thaumalea 

 picta). Mr. Stone had received these birds from his correspondent in Hankow; but 

 Mr. Sclater had been informed by Mr. Swinhoe that they had been originally obtained 

 for him by a French missionary priest resident at Ta-kien-lieou, at the foot of t';e 

 Yung-ling mountains, in the further part of the province of Setchuen. The range of 

 this bird was thus proved to extend from the Burmese frontier of Yunnan (where it was 

 obtained by Dr. Anderson) into the province of Setchuen." 



From this time on, Amherst Pheasants were purchased from time to time, and 

 gradually became well known both in public collections of birds and private aviaries. 

 Their rarity during the earlier years is attested by an auction sale of birds at the 

 Zoological Gardens of Antwerp, where in 1873 a pair of Amhersts brought 2,850 fitrincs 

 (^800 or £1(^0) and a single cock $250. 



The Amherst Pheasant in captivity breeds almost as readily as the golden, and it is 

 probable that when the bird as a wild species has become extinct, it can be propagated 

 indefinitely in confinement. The Amherst crosses freely with the golden, the hybrids 

 being perfectly fertile, and of unusual beauty. The general care and regime of the young 

 differs in no particular from that of the golden. The cocks are on the average pugnacious 

 and untrustworthy, and show especial animosity toward cock goldens, in this respect 

 supporting the jealousy between wild cocks of the two species mentioned by P^re David. 

 The length of incubation is from twenty-three to twenty-four days. 



Of eighty-seven individuals which have been kept in the London Zoological 

 Gardens, one reached a maximum age of eight years and one month, while the average 

 length of life was twenty months. Another record ("Bird Notes," N.S.I. 1910, p. 54) 

 states that a female which assumed cock plumage at the age of seven years was still 

 alive at the age of eleven years and four months. 



