This species was one of the first of the Himalayan pheasants to be known to European ornithologists, and Elizabeth Gould illustrated the Tragopan Satyra in Gould's A Century of Birds from the Himalayas (1830-1833). Her stiff but richly coloured profile of the pheasant against a minimal background was portrayed from a skin. Over thirty years later, the live pheasant could be seen in the London Zoological Gardens aviary, and Richter's watercolour is a much more realistic depiction of the species in a detailed landscape setting.
In the foreground the adult male is depicted about two-thirds lifesize. In the distance is a mottled brown female. On the right a male displays horns and wattles in courtship display.
J. Gould, A Century of Birds from the Himalayas, 1830-33, pl.62
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia: northern India and southeastern Tibet