LADY AMHERST PHEASANT 29 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION 



The Amherst Pheasant has been observed in the extreme eastern parts of Tibet 

 proper, and in the mountains of western Szechuan and northern Yunnan as far west as 

 just within the limits of Burma, not more, however, than a few miles beyond the frontier. 

 As in the case of its near relative, the golden pheasant, the exact extent of its range is 

 unknown, and will remain so until the centre of this great continent is opened up for 

 exploration by white men. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



Our ignorance of the wild habits of the Amherst Pheasant is about as complete as 

 in the case of its golden congener. Monsieur Carreau, a French missionary living in 

 Tibet, writes as follows ("Bull. Soc. d'Acclim." Ser. 2, VII., p. 582) to the Socidte 

 Nationale d'Acclimatation de France : " The Pheasant Houa-ze-Ky, the Flower Pheasant 

 of the Chinese, always inhabits very rocky places. Whenever I have seen this bird 

 flying upwards, I have always been able to shoot it ; but if it was descending, I could 

 not procure it, for then it disappeared with excessive rapidity. After having pursued it 

 several times, I have found it more convenient to obtain it in the same manner as the 

 natives, who lay in wait for it during the winter and catch it in snares. When the 

 mountains are covered with snow, and the streams frozen, the Flower Pheasants are 

 obliged to descend to the plains for water, but as soon as they are satisfied they ascend 

 again. In the paths these birds follow each other in a line ; and as they go in flocks, 

 and the snares are few in number, the Chinese do not make much from the plumage and 

 flesh of this beautiful pheasant. Ta-lin-pin is situated in the 29th degree of latitude N., 

 and the 102nd degree of longitude E. : the heat of these places is very great, as they are 

 surrounded by high mountains, and with very little vegetation. The mountains are 

 covered with brambles, briars and thorns, and also with grassy places ; in these spots 

 the Amherst Pheasant is met with in abundance. 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 Flower Pheasants, in companies composed of from twenty to 

 thirty individuals. 



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

 places in which it delights ; it is an extremely wild bird. Last year I kept one of these 

 pheasants in a stable covered with straw ; it hid itself so frequently 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 France 

 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 



