This pheasant was named in honour of Lady Sarah Amherst (1762-1838), wife of Lord Amherst, Governor-General of India from 1823 to 1828. Lady Amherst was a keen botanist and ornithologist, and on her return to England brought a collection of Himalayan plants and two live male pheasants. The birds originally came from Burma, and were given to her by Sir Archibald Campbell, successful commander of the British forces in the Burmese War who had received the pheasants from the defeated King of Burma. For two years they were kept in good health by Lady Amherst in India, but sadly, although they survived the long journey, they died within a few weeks of their arrival in England. One of them, mounted, was the model for Gould thirty-five years later, who deeply regretted that he had not seen a female of the species.
The watercolour has interesting differences to the final plate, in which the two male birds are reduced to one, and the reflection in the water is eliminated. The large butterfly is Papilio Paris, and the ferns are two varieties of Pteris quadriaurita.
The pheasant is depicted two-thirds life size.
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia from extreme southeastern Tibet, southern China from western Szechwan south to Yunnan and Kweichow, and south to northeastern and eastern Burma