Gould only knew of a single example of this species, which had been discovered in Upper Assam by Dr T.C. Jerdon. 'From Assam it was safely conveyed to Calcutta, and afterwards to England, where it lived and moulted more than once in the gardens of the Zoological Society, and where the Fellows and their friends and thousands of visitors had an opportunity of seeing this fine object in a living state'.
The pheasant has attractive bronze colouring, but Gould considered it was less graceful in its movements than other species, due to its thicker body and shorter legs.
The pheasant was named after Dr. Philip Lutley Sclater (1829-1913), Secretary of the Zoological Society (1859-1903).
The foreground figure is about two-thirds lifesize.
D.G. Elliot, Monograph of the Phasianidae, 1872, I, pl.21
T.C. Jerdon, The Ibis, 1870, p.147
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia: northeastern India and neighbouring southern Tibet, southwestern China and northeastern Burma. Listed as threatened and vulnerable and believed to be declining due to habitat degradation and hunting