CHAPTER XIX. 



The Amherst Pheasant 



{Thaumalea amher.itise) . 



LADY AMHEEST'S Pheasant was first made known to 

 Europeans by two male specimens presented by the 

 King of Ava to Sir Archibald Campbell, and by him 

 given to Lady Amherst, who retained them in India for about 

 two years, and succeeded in bringing both alive to England, 

 where, however, they lived only a few weeks. These specimens 

 were figured and described under the title of Phasianus 

 amherstice by Mr. B. Leadbeater in the " Linnean Trans- 

 actions " for 1828. Since that time until recently no living 

 specimens have been seen in Europe, and in 1863 the male 

 was figured in Dr. P. L. Sclater's list of desiderata required 

 by the Zoological Society. The successful reintroduction of 

 this remarkable species is entirely owing to the combined 

 eflforts of Mr. J. J. Stone and Mr. W. Medhurst, the British 

 Consul at Shanghai, who obtained twenty specimens in 

 Western Yunan, eight of which reached Shanghai alive, and 

 six — five males and one female — were successfully located 

 in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, in July, 1869. 

 Since that time other specimens have been obtained, and the 

 species has bred freely in confinement, and even in the open 

 covert. 



The general appearance of the species is strikingly beau- 

 tiful. In the male, the irides are hght, the naked skin of the 

 face is light blue, the feathers of the forehead are green, but the 

 long plumes which form the crest are crimson. The tippet, 

 which is so characteristic a feature of the bird, is white, each 



