68 Allen's naturalists library. 



and throat white; under-parts reddish-brown, faintly mottled 

 with black and with pale shafts ; orbital skin black. Total 

 length, 14-5 inches ; wing, 6-8 ; tail, 5*5 ; tarsus, 2-2. 



Range. — Island of Palawan. 



HaMts. — Mr. J. Whitehead, who is one of the few Europeans 

 who have trapped this bird in its native wilds, says : — ^'This 

 splendid little Pheasant is scarce and local, all my specimens 

 having been collected in one forest; and although my men set 

 hundreds of snares in other forests we never met with another 

 during our three months' stay. One female was eaten by a 

 wild cat in one of the traps, and I rather suspect that this 

 little tiger destroys numbers of this beautiful bird. 



" This species, like the Argus Pheasant, has its 'showing off 

 arena, a neatly swept patch some three or four feet in dia- 

 meter; the chosen spot is generally in some unfrequented 

 part of the forest. I often noticed that this ring had a small 

 hump of earth in the middle, where no doubt the male birds 

 show off their splendid plumage and perhaps do battle. Their 

 battles, if they have any, must be very short and decisive, as 

 the double spurs of the cock would be sufficient to cut his 

 adversary into bits. 



"I am inclined to think that the birds pair, and are not 

 polygamous, as we collected three pairs; but that was not 

 during the nesting-season, which is probably in the months 

 of December and January." 



Messrs. Bourns and Worcester add: — "P. napoleonis is 

 extremely shy. All our specimens were snared, though Mr. 

 Bourns caught a glimpse of a female on one occasion." 



THE BRONZE-TAILED PEACOCK-PHEASANTS. GENUS 

 CHALCURUS. 



Chakurus, Bonap. Ann. Sci. Nat. (4) i. p. 146 (1854). 

 Type, C. chalcurus (Less.). 

 Tail elongate and wedge-shaped, as in Phasiamis, and com- 

 posed of sixteen feathers, the middle pair nearly three times as 



