Habits and Breeding. 2'}") 



is an extremely wild bird. Last year I kept one of these 

 pheasants in a stable covered with straw ; it hid itself so fre- 

 quently 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. T think, from the temperature of the 

 mountains it inhabits, that the climate of France would be 

 suitable for the Flower Pheasant. These particulars respecting 

 the Lady Amherst's Pheasants are j)erfectly 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 of 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 hatching-houses that are charac- 

 teristic of some zoological collections. Not only has the pure 

 race been increased, but the males have also bred freely with 

 the hens of the Gold Pheasant {Thaumalea 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 

 35L The cross-bred specimens 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 palhd, and the Gold Pheasant wants the beau- 

 tiful contrast of the white neck tippet and the brilliancy of the 

 green and blue. 



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. 



