THE] AMHEESf PHEASANT?. 123 



degree of longitude E. : the heat of these places is very great as they are surrounded 

 hy high mountains, and with very little Vegetation. The mountains are covered 

 with hrambles, briars, and thorns, and also with grassy places ; in these spots the 

 Aniherst Pheasant is met with in ahundance. It is an error to think that, like 

 other pheasants, it is met with in the forests; I have never found it there, and as 

 in the neighbourhood of Ta-lin-pin it only exists where there are no forests, I 

 doubt very much if bushy tracts are to its liking. The more rocky and desolate 

 the mountains, the more certain are you to find the Elower Pheasants, in companies 

 composed of from twenty to thirty individuals. 



" The habits and economy of the Amherst Pheasant naturally jlccord with 

 the places in which it dehghts ; it is an extremely wild bird. Last year I kept 

 one 5f these pheasants in a stable covered with straw; it hid itself so frec[ue'a.tlj 

 and so well that once I was more than fifteen days in the belief that it was dead. 

 I fed it with bread and rice, and it became very fat. If this bird should be 

 introduced into Europe, it would be useless to endeavour to make it comfortable ; 

 if it has not in the aviary some place where, at the least noise, it can hide itself, 

 otherwise I doubt if it can be preserved. I think, from the temperature of the 

 mountains it inhabits, that the climate of Prance would be suitable for the Flower 

 Pheasant. These particulars respecting the Lady Amherst's Pheasants are perfectly 

 exact, since I have myself frequently hunted, captured, fed, and raised them. They 

 would increase easily in Europe, provided they were not too much exposed to the 

 heat of the sun, and that shrubs were grown in the aviary to allow their hiding 

 when frightened." 



The breeding of the Amherst Pheasant offers no difficulty, provided it be 

 attempted under natural conditions, and not in the close pens, and stifling, vermin- 

 haunted hatching houses that are characteristic of some of our zoological collections. 

 Not only has the pure race been increased, but the males have also bred freely 

 with the hens of the gold pheasant {Thamnalea picta), and produced hybrids which 

 are of surpassing beauty. At the sale of the surplus stock in the Zoological 

 Gardens at Antwerp in 1872, a single male hybrid of this kind, in full plumage, 

 realised 351., and I have recently had the opportunity of seeing four specimens of 

 this cross-breed in the possession of Mr. Edward Bartlett, These combine in a 

 remarkable degree the most attractive features of the two species from which they 

 are derived, and are unquestionably far more beautiful than either ; compared with 

 them the pure bred Amherst looks pallid, and the Gold pheasant wants the 

 beautiful contrast of the white neck tippet and the brilliancy of the green and blue. 



The whole of the four specimens so closely resemble one another that they 

 can scarcely be distinguished. In all the crest is fully developed, being larger than 

 in either parent species ; in colour it is a brilliant scarlet orange. The neck tippet 

 is white, margined with brilliant dark green, resembling that of the Amherst, but 



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