168 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



"flights" and projecting beyond the end of the body in repose 

 much as the wings of a grasshopper do ; in fact, this extension 

 of the wings in the rear and the long straight line they form 

 with the long tail give the bird a remarkably rectilineal outline, 

 and it is anything but graceful, although lightly built and with 

 an easy gait. 



The plumage also as seen in repose is nothing striking, being 

 very like a guinea-fowl's scheme of colouring carried out in browris 

 and buffs instead of greys and whites. The hen's is coloured 

 much like the cock's in the exposed portions ; neither sex has 

 spurs and both have red legs, and the skin of the head, which is 

 nearly bare, especially in the cock, of a dark blue. The hen's 

 tail is much like a common fowl's, of medium length and 

 folded ; otherwise she reminds one more of a small brown hen 

 turkey than of anything else. She weighs about three and a half 

 pounds, and the cock is only about a pound more, although his 

 centre tail feathers bring up his length often to six feet, and 

 the over-developed wing quills make the closed wing nearly a 

 yard long ; so, though he is mostly feathers, he looks a very large 

 bird and is nearly as long as any existing species. 



The argus is, however, very seldom seen at all in the wild 

 state and has seldom been shot by Europeans. It is never found 

 in open country, and in its chosen haunts, the most dense recesses 

 of the evergreen forests of its home, it has no difficult)' m slipping 

 silently away when approached, and it habitually retreats into 

 the thickest cover when alarmed. Even a dog cannot always 

 make them rise, as they are swift of foot ; mdeed, they probably 

 seldom use their wings except to go up to roost at night, or in 

 case of real need to seek refuge from a quadruped foe. How far 

 the cock could really fly in the open with his peculiar wings, 

 which are constructed all the wrong way for flight — the pinion 

 quills, not the secondaries, being the essential ones — would be an 

 interesting point to solve by experiment, but the exertion of 

 working his great floppy fans would no doubt soon tire him out. 



These curious wings, however, form the chief part of the 

 sirange and unique display of this bird, which may now and then 

 be seen in captivity, although the argus is not a free shower like 

 the peacock. When displaying, the wings are raised behind and 



