(See Encycl.). A species of this genus of birds, formerly not described, was sent from Batavia to England by Lord Macartney, or some of his attendants, when they were on their voyage to China. The species to which it seemed to be most nearly allied, in point of general habit or appearance, was the Phasianus curvicollis, or Impeyan pheasant; an East Indian bird, described and figured both in Mr Latham's Ornithology, and in the Museum Leverianum. From that bird, however, it differs very considerably. The tail of the latter being in a mutilated state, it was scarce possible to determine, with absolute precision, whether it should be referred to that subdivision of pheasants, which contains those with long or cuneiform tails, or those with rounded ones, as in the Impeyan pheasant.

The general colour of this most elegant bird was black, with a glaze of blue, or what, in the language of natural history, may be termed chalybean black, or black accompanied by a steel blue luster. The lower part of the back was of a peculiarly rich colour, which, according to the different directions of the light, appeared either of a deep ferruginous or of the brightest fiery orange-red. This beautiful colour passed in the manner of a broad zone round the whole body; but on the abdomen was of a much more obscure appearance than on the back, as well as somewhat broken or irregular, especially on the sides. The throat was furnished with a large, and somewhat angular, pair of wattles, uniting with the bare spaces on the cheeks. The feathers on the top of the head, which was of a lengthened form, ran a little backward, so as to give the appearance of an indistinct occipital crest. The beak was remarkable for a more lengthened and curved aspect than in any other bird of this genus, except the Impeyan pheasant. The feathers on the neck, back, and breast, were rounded, and of the same shell-like or feathery habit as those of the turkey. The legs very stout, and were armed with a pair of extremely strong, large, and sharp spurs. Both legs and beak were of a pale colour. Whether this bird really new or not to the ornithologists of Europe, it may at least be affirmed with safety, that it had never been properly described; nor can the character of any species, hitherto introduced into the books of any systematic naturalist, be considered as a just or competent specific character of the present bird. It may be called the fire-backed pheasant; and its essential character may be delineated in the following terms: Black pheasant with a steel-blue glaze; the sides of the body rufous; the lower part of the back fiery ferruginous; the tail rounded; the two middle feathers pale yellow brown.—Sir George Staunton's Account of an Embassy to China, &c.