158 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



EARLY HISTORY 



The first specimen ever recorded of this Impeyan was a live male bird. Of this 

 Jerdon writes in the Ibis for 1870: "Another still more interesting species, brought 

 alive from the Mishmi Hills, is a species of Monaul or Lophophorus. When I first 

 saw it, it was in such wretched plumage that, although I considered it to be distinct 

 from the Himalayan species, I was unable to describe it. It is now here at Shillong, 

 on the Khasis Hills, alive and in good health, though not in my possession, and as it 

 has very recently assumed its tail-feathers I am able to pronounce it decidedly distinct 

 from L. impeyanus." 



This very individual was later obtained by Mr. Jerdon and sent alive to the 

 London zoo. It reached England on March 12, 1870, and lived for a year and eight 

 months. Up to the present time this is the only record of Sclater's Impeyan in 

 captivity. Jerdon tells us that the bird was very tame and fed readily from the hand. 

 He fed it on rice and corn, and it was especially fond of lettuce and cabbage leaves. 

 This type is now in the British Museum. It has lost almost all the iridescence from 

 the mantle, back and coverts, owing to the excessive wear of the feathers. The general 

 tone is now a dull, smoky black. 



The female was described nine years later. 



SYNONYMY 



Loplwphorus sdateri Jerdon, Ibis, 1870, p. 147 ; Jerdon, Proc. Asiatic Soc, Bengal, 1870, p. 61 ; Gray, Hand- 

 list of Birds, 1870, p. 261 ; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1870, p. 162 ; Elliot, Monogr. Phasi., I. 1872; Elwes, Proc. 

 Zool. Soc, 1873, p. 660 ; Hume, Stray Feathers, II. 1874, P- 4 8 8 ; Hume, Game-birds of India, I. 1879, p. 135 ; 

 Godwin-Austen, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1879, p. 681 ; Hume, Stray Feathers, XI. 1888, p. 301 ; Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., XXII. 1893, P- 282 i Hartert, Ibis, 1894, p. 291 ; Grant, Hand-book Game-birds, I. 1895, P- 240; Mitchell, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 191 1, p. 521 ; Finn, Game-birds India and Asia, 191 1, p. 36; Beebe, Zoologica, I. No. 15, 1914, 

 p. 271. 



Crestless Moonal Hume, Stray Feathers, IX. 1880, p. 203. 



Chalcophasis sdateri Oates, Game-birds India, I. 1898, p. 269; Sharpe, Hand-list of Birds, 1899, p. 34. 



