COMMON PHEASANT. 117 



blended, of the rest of the head and the upper part of the neck 

 imbricated and rounded, of the fore -neck and breast broad, 

 slightly emarginate or abruptly rounded ; of the back broad 

 and rounded, of the rump elongated, with loose filaments ; of 

 the sides very long, of the abdomen downy, of the legs soft and 

 rather short. Directly over the aperture of the ear is a small 

 erectile tuft of feathers. The wings are short, very broad, 

 curved, rounded, of twenty-four quills ; the primaries attenuated 

 from near the base, rounded, the third and fourth longest, the 

 first equal to the seventh ; the secondaries broad, rounded, 

 and little shorter than the primaries. The tail is very long, 

 slightly arched, remarkably cuneate or tapering, of eighteen 

 tapering feathers, of which the lateral are incurved, the central 

 straight. Four pairs of the longest tail feathers are concave 

 above towards the end, or channelled. 



The bill is pale greenish-yellow, the nasal membrane light 

 brown or flesh-coloured. The bare papillar patch on the side 

 of the head is scarlet, in parts approaching to arterial blood-red, 

 or at some seasons crimson. The eyelids are flesh-coloured, 

 the iris yellow. The feet are light grey, tinged with brown, 

 the claws light chocolate brown. 



The feathers of the upper part of the head are deep brownish- 

 green, w^ith yellowish marginal filaments. The upper part of 

 the neck is deep green behind, laterally and anteriorly greenish- 

 blue and purplish-blue. The lower part of the neck is reddish- 

 orange, anteriorly tinged with purple ; the breast and sides 

 brownish-yellow ; each feather terminally margined w^ith pur- 

 plish-blue, the dark margin indented in the middle, but the in- 

 dentation gradually diminishing on the breast. The middle 

 of the lower part of the breast is blackish-brown, glossed with 

 green, the margins of the feathers being of the latter colour. 

 The fore part of the back is yellowish-red, each feather slightly 

 margined with black, and having a central oblong spot of the 

 same. The scapulars are redder, with a slight black tip, the 

 central part dull yellow mottled with dusky, margined with a 

 black band. On the middle of the back the feathers are some- 

 what similarly variegated, with additional spots of light blue 

 and purple c Those on the rump are of a deep red, with green 



