138 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIEDS. Part IL 



the spring the males, as previously described, strut 

 about before the comparatively plain-coloured females, 

 expanding and erecting their tail and wing-feathers, 

 which are ornamented with numerous ocelli. I request 

 the reader to turn back to the drawing (fig. 51, p. 90) 

 of a Polyplectron. In P. Na]^oleonis the ocelli are 

 confined to the tail, and the back is of a rich me- 

 tallic blue, in which respects this species approaches 

 the Java peacock. P. Hardivickii possesses a pecu- 

 liar top-knot, somewhat like that of this same kind 

 of peacock. The ocelli on the wings and tail of the 

 several species of Polyplectron are either circular 

 or oval, and consist of a beautiful, iridescent, greenish- 

 blue or greenisli -purple disc, with a black border. 

 This border in P. chinquis shades into brown which 

 is edged with cream-colour, so that the ocellus is 

 here surrounded with differently, though not brightly, 

 shaded concentric zones. The unusual lengtli of the 

 tail-coverts is another highly remarkable character 

 in Polyplectron ; for in some of the species they are 

 half as long, and in others two-thirds of the length 

 of the true tail-feathers. Tl)e tail-coverts are ocel- 

 lated, as in the peacock. Thus the several species 

 of Polyplectron manifestly make a graduated ap- 

 proach in the length of their tail-coverts, in the zoning 

 of the ocelli, and in some other characters, to the 

 peacock. 



Notwithstanding this approach, the first species of 

 Polyplectron which I happened to examine almost made 

 me give up the search ; for I found not only that the 

 true tail-feathers, which in the peacock are quite plain, 

 were ornamented with ocelli, but that the ocelli on 

 all the feathers differed fundamentallv from those of 

 the peacock, in there being two on the same feather, 

 (fig. 54), one on each side of the shaft. Hence I 



