860 



PHASIANID^. 



5. Polyplectron nehrkornse. 



Polyplectron empbanes, Sclat. {nee Sclat. 1863) Ibis, 1878, p. 386 ; 



ticeedd. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 623 [P. Princesa]. 

 Polyplectron napoleonis, Tweedd. (nee Less.) P. Z. S. 1878, p. 792 ; 



>'Sharpe, Ibis, 1888, p. 203 ; Blasius, Ornis, 1888, p. 317 [Palawan] ; 



Everett, List B. Born. p. 198 (1889) [Palawan] ; Whitehead, Ibis, 



1890, p. 57 [Palawan]. 

 Polyplectron nehrkomee, Blasius, Mitth. orn. Ter. Wien, 1891, p. 1 



[Palawan] ; id. J.f. O. 1891, p. 10. 



Adult male. Top of the head and elongate crest dark green, 

 changing to purplish bUie ; back of the neck black, each feather 

 with a submargina] steel-blue band and wide tei'minal fringe of 

 golden green ; mantle, scapulars, and median wing-coverts with the 

 base black and the terminal half greenish blue edged with golden 

 green and changing to dark blue and deep violet ; the lesser wing- 

 coverts black ; the bastard-wing, quills, and their coverts brownish 

 black ; the lower back and rump black, thickly spotted and mottled 

 with rufous buff; the upj)er tail-coverts and tail the same, but the 

 spots are fewer, rounder, and paler than on the back ; the longer 

 tail-coverts and tail-feathers are terminated by a submarginal black 

 band, edged on either side with buff and fringed externally with 

 black ; each of these feathers is ornamented with a pair of bluish- 

 green ocelli, changing to deep violet and circumscribed by a black- 

 and-grey ring ; but the three or four outer pairs of tail-feathers 

 have the ej^e on the inner web obsolete and only represented by a 

 black spot ; a very narrow superciliary * and a triangular patch 

 covering the hinder part of the cheek and ear-coverts pure white ; 

 lores, tliiu covering of feathers on the sides of the face, chin, throat, 

 and rest of underparts black ; the feathers on the fore part of the 

 neck are sometimes obscurely tipped with golden green, like those 

 of the back. Bill dark brown, tip horny ; orbital skin crimson. 

 Legs and feet purj^le-brown. Total length 19 inches, wing 7'3, 

 tail 8-7, tarsus 2-5. 



An immature male resembles the female, but the tail and greater 

 coverts are like those of the adult male, though the ocelli are much 

 smaller and are absent on the inner web of all the tail-feathers 

 except the three middle pairs ; one or two of the feathers of the 

 mantle have a metallic bluish-green patch in the middle ; and traces 

 are apparent of black plumage on the mantle, wing-coverts, throat, 

 and underparts. 



Adult female. Top of the head and nape brownish black, a well- 

 developed crest ; rest of upper parts pale rufous brown, finely 

 mottled with black ; the feathers of the mantle and wing-coverts 

 with an ill-defined submarginal band of rufous buff ; most of the 

 feathers with pale shafts ; quills and their coverts dark brown ; 

 upper tail-coverts and tail finely mottled with rufous buff and 



* Tliis stripe is absent in one specimen I have examined, and the super- 

 cilium is entirely naked. 



