PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



mottled with dull pale chestnut on their outer web, the edge 

 of which is buff; tail, dark brown, mottled with buff, and black 

 on the edges, and crossed by narrow irregular bands of buff, 

 bordered on either side with blotches of dark brown ; on the 

 lateral feathers the lighter edges nearly disappear, and the 

 bands assume a more irregular form ; throat, buff; all 

 the remainder of the under surface, buff, with a large 

 irregular arrow head-shaped mark near the top of each 

 feather; thighs, similar, but with dark mark nearly obsolete." 



In the description given by Mr Gould, a reader will, I 

 think, admit that this eminent Naturalist has described the 

 plumage of the bird, not only with great accuracy, but in all 

 minutiae. 



P. Versicolor is found throughout the whole of the 

 Japanese Islands, with one or two exceptions. 



Elliot's description is embodied in the following words : — 



" The male has the tip of the head, green ; ear-tufts, 

 shining-green ; throat and back, blue, with greenish reflec- 

 tions ; under parts green, with purple reflections upon the 

 neck and breast feathers, and the back and scapulars have 

 their centres black with two buff lines equidistant from 

 each other ; the margins, chestnut ; shoulders, bluish-grey ; 

 primaries, brown on the inner web, outer greyish, and 

 irregularly barred with whitish ; secondaries, chestnut, with 

 broad mark of buff in the centre, this mark mottled with 

 black on the outer web ; rump and upper tail coverts, 

 bluish-grey ; abdomen in centre and thighs, dark brown ; 

 tail, greenish-grey, the central feathers barred with black, 

 regular at base but becoming alternate towards the tip ; 

 edges of the feathers, purplish ; the black bars are similar 

 on the lateral feathers, and absent from the outer ones ; 



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