FIRE-BACK PHEASANT 193 



andersoni) from the Kachin Hills and the Ruby Mines, seems 

 simply to be a hybrid between this bird and the lineated kalij ; 

 bat the bird figured by Hume as Crawford's silver pheasant 

 {EiLplocamus andersoni on plate) seems to me the same bird with 

 a further cross of the lineated. As further intermediate forms 

 occur between these half-silver pheasants and the purple kalij, and 

 as that bird also undoubtedly grades into the lineated kalij where 

 their ranges approach, through more interbreeding, it will be 

 seen that it is very difficult to draw any lines between all these 

 black-breasted kalijes, silvered or plain ; and we may ultimately 

 have to come to the astonishing conclusion that they are all of 

 the same species, of which the type will have to be the Chinese 

 silver pheasant, as the oldest kind known. 



Firc-back Pheasant. 



*Lophura rufa. Mooah-mooah, Malay. 



The splendid fire-back pheasant, distinguished from all other 

 members of the kalij group, to which it belongs, by its sky-blue 

 face, high bushy crest, and large size, which even in the hen 

 goes up to three and a half pounds and in the cock may reach 

 five, is only found in Southern Tenasserim, being one of the 

 many Malay forms which just penetrate our dominions in that 

 direction. Its eastern limit is Sumatra, an allied but distinct 

 species replacing it in Borneo. 



Living where it does, this species is not likely to be confused 

 with the Himalayan monal, also a big pheasant with a blue face, 

 but utterly different in every other way. The cock fire-back, in 

 addition to the splendid patch of colour which gives him his 

 name, is remarkable for the lustrous navy-blue of his plumage, 

 set off by white flank-splashes and the white centre-feathers of 

 the curved but folded and hen-like tail, and the coral-red legs, 

 armed with great white spurs. The hen is quite as distinct in 

 her way, on account of her bright foxy-red plumage, marked 

 with black and white below ; her legs are red like the cock's, 

 whereas those of the Bornean fire-back are white in both sexes. 



* Euplocamits vieilloti on plate. 

 13 



