Himalayan Monal Pheasant
Lophophorus impejanus (Latham)

These birds are distributed thoughout eastern Afghanistan, through the Himalayas, to the mountains of western China, from northeastern Yunnan to Kokonor.

These heavy, stocky-looking birds are also known as Monal Pheasants, Impeyan Pheasants or Himalayan Impeyan Pheasants because they were first kept in India by Lady Impey. Other than their unique multi-colored iridescent plumage, a distinguishing field characteristic is their gait which is described as brusque and jerky, different from all other pheasants (Delacour 1951).

During the nineteenth century, Monal Pheasants were the most numerous game birds in the Himalayas. "From the time when first womankind looked on the marvelous plumage of this bird and pronounced it superlatively necessary for the adornment of her apparel, man has outclassed all other enemies in the life of this pheasant" (Beebe 1937). "The first known captive Monals were kept in India by Lady Impey, but they never reached England alive, having died on the journey" (Delacour 1951). During the late 1850's, Lord Harding, the former Governor-General of India, brought these pheasants to England where many became prize possessions of Prince Albert. The London Zoological Gardens and the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris first recorded captive rearing in 1854 and 1856.

The bronze neck feathers have historically been used as body veiling in the Bronze Pirate (Kelson 1895). In the twentieth century, artistic fly dressers have used the various iridescent triangular neck and body feathers as cheeks and wings of creative salmon flies, and the cinnamon red tail feathers of the Monal pheasant have been used as alternates to cinnamon turkey or red Gled (kite) feathers. The smaller black breast feathers may be substituted for Indian Crow (Pyroderus scutatus) body feathers in the Black Prince and other flies.

If you want to know more about the monal, or impeyan, pheasant and other birds related to our fly tying heritage, we suggest you order Rare and Unusual Fly Tying Materials: A Natural History.