impeyan pheasant

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A kind of East Indian pheasant, a variety of monaul: so called by Latham, in 1787, after Sir Elijah Impey, or his wife Lady Impey, who tried to bring living examples of this pheasant to England. Lady Impey's pheasant was at first classed as Phasianus impeyanus or impeianus; but it is now known as Lophophorus impeyanus, and the name is extended to some other species of the restricted genus Lophophorus or Impeyanus. The head is crested, and the plumage of the male is of the most brilliant, changing, metallic hues —green, steel-blue, violet, and golden bronze. The female and young are brown, mottled with gray and yellow. The bird is capable of domestication. Its Nepâlese name monaul signifies ‘bird of gold.’ These fine birds inhabit the colder or more elevated regions of India and countries adjoining on the north.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. (Zoöl.) An Indian crested pheasant of the genus Lophophorus. Several species are known. Called also monaul, monal.