THE AMHERST PHEASANT. 217 



:gratified by tlie arrival of any information respecting the 

 part of the Celestial Empire in which it dwells, and any 

 ■details as to its habits. The bird would doubtless be as 

 ■easily kept in our aviaries as its near ally, the Golden 

 Pheasant ; and it is my ardent wish to see it thus located 

 before I leave this lower world for the higher and brighter 

 •one which is the end of our hopes and desires." Every 

 •ornithologist must feel glad that Mr. Gould had his wish 

 .-gratified. 



Since the arrival of Mr. Stone's, specimens, Mr. Anderson, 

 the curator of the Indian Museum at Calcutta, has received 

 skins of both sexes from Yunan and Upper Burmah, where 

 it is not rare, the plumes being worn by the natives. 



The only account of the habits of this beautiful species 

 in a wild state occurs in a letter from Monsieur Carreau, 

 ■a French missionary in Thibet, to the Paris Acclimatization 

 Society. He states : — " The pheasant Houa-ze-Ky, the Flower 

 Pheasant of the Chinese, always inhabits very rocky places. 

 Whenever I have seen this bird flying upwards, I have 

 Always been able to shoot it; but if it was descending, I 

 ■could not procure it, for then it disappeared with excessive 

 rapidity. After having pursued it several times, I have 

 iound it more convenient to obtain it in the same manner 

 as the natives, who lay in wait for it during the winter 

 and catch it in snares. When the mountains are covered 

 with snow, and the streams frozen, the Flower Pheasants 

 are obliged to descend to the plains for water, but as soon 

 as they are satisfied they ascend again. In the paths these 

 birds follow each other in a line ; and as they go in flocks, 

 and the snares are few in number, the Chinese do not make 

 much from the plumage and flesh of this beautiful pheasant. 

 Ta-lin-pin is situated in the 29th degree of latitude N., and 

 the 102nd degree of longitude B. : the heat of these places 

 is very great, as they are surrounded by high mountains, 

 and with very little vegetation. The mountains are covered 

 with brambles, briars, and thorns, and also with grassy 



