This illustration was drawn from live birds in the London Zoological Gardens. The male was described by Gould as 'a timid bird, [which]... does not care for leaves, but is very fond of insects, and will eat greedily of small fish, frogs, lizards, and raw meat. It has a peculiarly fine rich whistling call, which it utters about sunrise and occasionally at other times'. The female arrived in 1864 and bred several times. The chicks habitually followed close behind her, often covered by her tail.
Gould drew attention to the spots on the back of the pheasant which are 'rich metallic purple in all lights, while those on the tail are green'.
The two sexes are depicted about nine-tenths lifesize.
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia: eastern India, southwestern China, Burma, northwestern and southwestern Thailand and Indochina.
The birds depicted belong to the subspecies Polyplectron bicalcaratum bicalcaratum, the Burmese Grey Peacock Pheasant which is limited to Chittagong, Chin and Kachin Hills, northeastern Assam, Burma east to western Tonkin, south to southern Tenasserim, southwestern Thailand and central Laos