THE AMHERST PHEASANT 



and one of its chief characteristics is a white tippet, the feathers 

 of which have a marginal dark-greenish band, with a 

 secondary band narrower than the first one. The skin of 

 the face is light blue, and the feathers of the forehead green, 

 whilst those which form the crest are a brilliant combination 

 of orange and scarlet. The wing coverts, the back, breast, 

 shoulders, front of the neck are metallic green, whereas the 

 lower portions of the breast and belly are white. Tail coverts 

 have green and white stripes down the middle with scarlet tips 

 and brown bases. The two upper middle tail feathers are 

 laced. The legs and feet blue. The hen is a deep chestnut 

 brown, barred with a darker brown, and in many respects 

 similar to that of the Golden Pheasant. 



A peculiarity about the Amherst Pheasants when living 

 in coverts is that the birds of this species keep together, and 

 quite apart from the other Pheasants ; yet in spite of this 

 fact, the Amherst will, as previously stated, breed with the 

 common Pheasant. 



Although the account given by Gould in vol. vii. of his 

 Birds of Asia is to some extent obsolete, the fundamental 

 facts nevertheless remain true ; therefore the author thinks 

 it advisable to quote what Mr Gould says in the volume 

 alluded to : — 



"This very remarkable member of the Phasianus was 

 brought into notice first time in 1828 by the late Mr Benjamin 

 Leadbeater, who in a paper read by him at a meeting of the 

 Linnaean Society of London, on the 2nd December of that 

 year, stated that the return of His Excellency, the Right 

 Honourable Earl Amherst, from India, has made us 

 acquainted with one of the most splendid examples of the 

 genus Phasiamis that has been submitted to the notice of 

 ornithologists for many years past. 



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