Chap. XIII. DISPLAY BY THE MALE. 89 



marks, to be filled with waving plumes. When thus 

 engaged, they become so absorbed that a skilful archer 

 may shoot nearly the whole party. These birds, when 

 kept in confinement in the Malay Archipelago, are said 

 to take much care in keeping their feathers clean ; often 

 spreading them out, examining them, and removing 

 every speck of dirt. One observer, who kept several 

 pairs alive, did not doubt that the display of the male 

 was intended to please the female.^^ 



The gold-pheasant {Thaumalea lyicta) during his court- 

 ship not only expands and raises his splendid frill, but 

 turns it, as I have myself seen, obliquely toAvards the 

 female on whichever side she may be standing, obviously 

 in order that a large surface may be displayed before 

 her.^* Mr. Bartlett has observed a male Polyplectron 

 (fig. 51) in the act of courtship, and has shewn me a 

 specimen stuffed in the attitude then assumed. The 

 tail and wincf-feathers of this bird are ornamented with 

 beautiful ocelli, like those on the peacock's train. Now 

 when the peacock displays himself, he expands and 

 erects his tail transversely to his body, for he stands in 

 front of the female, and has to shew off, at the same 

 time, his rich blue throat and breast. But the breast 

 of the Polyplectron is obscurely coloured, and the ocelli 

 are not confined to the tail-feathers. Consequently the 

 Polyplectron does not stand in front of the female ; but 

 he erects and expands his tail-feathers a little obliquely. 



S3 ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist.' vol. xiii. 1854, p. 157 ; also 

 Wallace, ibid, vol, xx. 1857, p. 412, and 'The Malay Areiiipelago,' vol. 

 ii. 1869, p 252. Also Dr. Bennett, as quoted by Biehm, ' Tliieiieben,' 

 B. iii. s. 826. 



s-i Mr. T. W. Wood has given ('The Student,' April, 1870, p. 115) a 

 full account of this manner of display, which he calls the lateral or 

 one-sided, by the gold pheasant and by the Japanese isheasant, Ph. 

 versicolor. 



