THK CRESTED FIRE-BACKED IMIEASANTS. 243 



distinctly and sharply edged with shining dark bluish-green, 

 producing a scaled appearance. Total length, i8'5 inches; 

 wing, 8*9; tail, 6*5; tarsus, 2"8. 



Adult Female. — Has not yet been obtained. 



Eange. — Mount Singalan and the highlands of Padang, 

 Western Sumatra. 



Remarks. — I was at first inclined to believe that the male of 

 this most interesting species, discovered by Dr. Beccari, had 

 been wrongly sexed, in spite of that naturalist's assertions to 

 the contrary. This was certainly not the case, for a second un- 

 doubted juale example, perfectly similar to the type, has since 

 been obtained by Dr. C. Klaesi, and is now in the Leyden 

 Museum. 



It is exceedingly remarkable that the male of this species 

 should so closely resemble the females of the other species, and 

 it will be extremely interesting to see, when the female of the 

 Black Crestless Fire-Back (in this case somewhat of a misnomer) 

 is discovered, whether it is black or reddish-brown, as Dr. 

 Beccari imagined. He relied on the testimony of natives and 

 on feathers which had been found near their traps, which be- 

 longed to specimens which had unfortunately been eaten by 

 some carnivorous animal. It seems likely that these feathers 

 may have belonged to females of Lophura rufa, in which, as 

 we shall see below, the plumage and tail-feathers nearly answer 

 to the description " reddish-brown." 



The native name for this bird is said to be Ajam merah mafa. 



THE CRESTED FIRE-BACKED PHEASANTS. GENUS 

 LOPHURA. 



LopJmra^ Fleming, Philos. Zool. ii. p. 230 (1822), 

 Type, L. rufa (Raffles). 

 Tail rather long, composed of sixteen feathers, laterally com- 

 pressed as in the Fowls ; the third pair somewhat longer than 

 the middle ones, and very much longer than the outer pair. 



R 2 



