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Mr. R. I. Pocock,



Widely different and resembling in all important points that

of the Turkey, as I have already mentioned in this Magazine *

is the display of the Peacock ( Pavo ). In this bird, as in the

Turkey (. Meleagris ), the display is ‘ frontal,’ that is to say the cock

faces the hen with the tail raised and spread fan-wise, the back

inclined more or less upwards, the head and neck withdrawn

against it and the wings partially spread and drooped, but not

strictly speaking exhibited, on each side.


Reverting once more to the Peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron

chinquis), it will be remembered that its method of display as

described to Darwin induced him to regard it as ‘ lateral,’ or what

may be called pheasant-like. I myself, however, have never seen

this bird show off in exactly the manner depicted and described in

“ The Descent of Man,” except as a preliminary to what must be

regarded as full display. One interesting point I have to record

about the courtship of this species is that the display is made in

two widely different ways, each complete in itself, yet each, unlike

the two methods of the Tragopan, subservient to the exhibition

of the self-same ornamentation. One method is markedly

‘lateral.’ Nevertheless in the disposition of the wings it differs

widely from the lateral method described in this species by

Bartlett and represented, it is alleged, by T. W. Wood in the

drawing already mentioned, which was possibly taken from

Bartlett’s mounted specimen referred to by Darwin. I say

‘alleged ’ because the drawing in question does not quite suggest

to me lateral display, but rather a preliminary to the frontal

display of this species, to be described later on. The perspective

of the drawing may, however, be inaccurate ; aud since it is

impossible now to settle this point, we must take Darwin’s word

for it that the drawing was intended to coincide with the des¬

cription. In this drawing both the wings are partially spread,

the one on the side nearest the hen being drooped towards the

ground, and the one on the opposite side raised above the level

of the uptilted back, their primaries being pointed towards the

tail and away from the direction in which the bird is looking. In

the lateral display of this species that has come under my notice

(fig. i), the wing on the side near the hen is scarcely opened at



* The Display of the cock Ostrich, Avic. Mag., VII., p. 290, 1909.



