CHAPTER XVIII. 



PHEASANTS ADAPTED TO THE AVIARY. 



THE GOLDEN PHEASANT {THAUMALEA 

 PIGTA). 



IFmONGST the birds that are reared in our aviaries on 

 account of the beauty of their plumage, the two 

 species of the genus Thaumalea occupy a very 

 prominent position. These birds have been separated 

 from the more typical pheasants (which have been 

 already described as constituting the restricted genus 

 Fhasianus) by several well-marked characters, the most 

 conspicuous of which are the presence of a crest of silky 

 feathers on the crown of the head, and a tippet of broad flat 

 feathers encircling the upper part of the neck. The Golden 

 Pheasant [Thaumalea picta) has been long known in captivity 

 in Europe ; it was described by Linnseus under the name of 

 Phasianus pictus in 1766, but of its habits in its native 

 country nothing whatever had been ascertained ; even its 

 exact locality was doubtful until more recent explorations in 

 China. It is now known to inhabit the mountains of the 

 western central districts, and it has been shot by Europeans 

 on the banks of the Yang-tsze, one hundred miles north of 

 Hankow. In the north of China it is, according to Pere 

 David, quite unknown. 



In its mature plumage the male is one of the most gorgeous 

 of the whole tribe. The head is ornamented with a long crest 

 of silky orange-coloured feathers. This extends backwards 



