In the 1860s specimens of this pheasant came from Yokohama, Japan, but Gould remarked that at that time very little was known by Europeans of the locations and habits of birds in the 'comparatively sealed country, Japan'. Gould commented on the beautifully coloured feathers of the lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts wich were revealed in the pheasant's display. Wolf used a favourite device of painting a single feather to emphasise these rich colours.
The pheasants are two-thirds lifesize.
J. Gould, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, XVII, 1866, p.150
DISTRIBUTION: Japan in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. The birds shown are the subspecies Syrmaticus soemmerringii scintillans, the Scintillating Copper Pheasant, which occurs in northern and central Honshu