EUPLOCO .US : I ■ 1ATUS
e x ; p l o c a M u s y e ì e l a t t j s .
81 AMESE FIREBACK.
GALLUS ¿DIARDI, Temm. Mus. Leyd.—Schleg. H and led . Dierk. vol. i. p; 379.
DIARDIGALLUS PRíELATUS, B.qu. Compt. Rend. (1856) vql. xliii. p. 415,—Gould, B. of Asia, pt. xii.
DIARDIGALLUS FASCIpLATIIS, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beug. vol. xxvii. p. 280;—Goüíd, Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 40, pi. 27.
■ . DIARDIGALLUS CRAWFURDI, Schomb. Proc. Zool. Soc*(186%p. ‘250.-sGtopld,SBr&í«ZooL *§bcí (Í859) p. 353.
EUPLOCAMUsV(DÍ ARDIGALLUS) PRA3LATUS^£>bIat. Proc. Zool.;Sö<:. (1 863) p. ll& sp: 1.—Gray, List Gall. (18Ö7) p. 34. sp. 7.—Schomb.
Ibis, (1864) p. 259.—Sclat. Wolf’s Zool. Sketch. 2nd ser. pi. P. (l86?|||sBÌj
ÁGOMUS CRAWFURDI, Bon. Compt. Rènd. (1856) p. 879, fern.
H ab. Siam; Shan States, east of Kieng-mai ( S c homburgk) .
T h is magnificent bird is a native o f Siam, and is one o f the most elegant and graceful members of this most beautiful family.
Tlie accompanying drawing by Mr. Wolf shows to advantage 'the delicate pencillings of the grey plumage and the velvety softness
( ■ o f the'blue, crimson, and yellow of the back, so striking in their.great contrast.
A fine specimen o f the male was sent to Mr. Gould from Siam by Sir Robert Schomburgk, who obtained his example from a
menagerie in'-which it was- a t the time. This was the original o f Mr. Gould’s plate' in the ‘Birds of Asia.’ Since that period,
. many- living examples have; been obtained, and the species has br'ed^-m mosti <á the Zoológicál Gardens of England and the
Continent;-’so that it is no longer to be considered rare. The male, in its natural state, carries the tail drooping, as do the
other species ;of Pheasant, and* not' spread opt^ sideways as figured by Mr. Gould. Sir Robert Schomburgk gives the following
a c co u n t'o f this species, which I quote from the ‘Birds of Asia:’—“ Leamingr some timé ; since that' there were some fine living
animals and birds- a t a Wat, or Siamese temple, I went to look a t them,' and was particularly struck with a- fine Pheasant,
which, on inquiry, I was told came from the upper country,—the usual answer - to'every question respecting - the habitats o f living
animals or birds. About a week later comes your letter, enclosing a drawing of the very bird I had seen in the Wat. Of
course I sent forthwith the price demanded, and procured it. Thè poor thing was so gentle, I: felt great compunction to kill
i t ; for the sake p f : science, however, it was stifled, -but I told my servant to do it in the móst gentle manner. The bird
having been kept in a domesticated state, I did not wonder when its owner told me that, in lieu o f cefeals, it had been fed
upon - the fry. o f fishes, prawns, and shrimps. - I am not able to tell you much about its habits or its habitat. Some say it
comes from the upper country ; others- that it frequents the regions near the coast. . There is no doubt that it is a great rarity
a t Bangkok, which ;it would-not be did it frequent the coast. I have npjt; seen this Pheasant in the King’s collection, Avhich I
certainly should have 'done had it been there ; 'for, as he usually receives nie; in the saloon near the aviary, I could not-have
»‘ failed to ■ notice ” ¡it.- With , th e nice drawing you have sent me in my possession, I think I shall be Able to get some further
information as to the habits of the bird; meanwhile I forward the specimen ivithQut^ioSs'ibf time. Since writing' the above, the
Prime Minister, Qr Kalaliome, has called pw>: me. He tells me the Pheasant is found a t R o p r i .^ l Roxaburi (according, to Sir
' John: Bowring’s map, in lat. 13° 33' N.,.long. say 100° E.).”
In a later communication from Sir Robert Schomburgk, mentioned in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ (1862), he
stated that “ the habitat o f this Pheasant wás ' now fully ascertained tt>j':be the Shàn States, to the east of Kieng-mai, at
Muang Nan, Muang Phi, &c.”
In ‘The Ib is ’ for 1864, p. 260, Sir Robert gives the following account of a male o f this species which he had alive:-—“ I
have already observed that I procured another bird after the one the skin of which I sent home. I allowed him to leave his
coop and to walk about in the house, where he picked up insects, apparently more' congenial to him -than the every-day food
Of paddy (rice in husk). When lie- saw a spider or ant crawl up the walls o f the room, he would fly up several feet to catch
it. He was very , partial to plantains and bananas, indeed to almost any kind of fruit ;- this predilection he- may have acquired
in his state of domestication. Both in his coop and when walking about in th e verandah, he emitted frequently a faint sound ;
blit when disturbed or alarmed, the sound was harsh ; and when flying up, it was with a whirring noise, similar to that of our
Partridges, but stronger. The female, though so different in plumage, has the same manners as the male. I possessed two :
one was quite wild and could not be allowed to leave the cage ; but the other was as tame as the male. I placed her in
the same cage with h im ;' but lie commenced to peck her, and she had to be removed. When both were stalking about in the
verandah, they remained a t a respectfiil distance from each other. I believe our Pheasant associates only with the female at
certain periods. I contemplated taking the Kai-pha and one of the females with me to Europe on my return ; but the first