174 ON PHASIANUS IGNITUS 



terminal half. Amongst the red-tailed females there is also 

 a rufous-breasted form represented by a specimen in the 

 collection at Amsterdam. I am unable to say whether this 

 red color on breast and flanks means merely an individual 

 variation or a certain stage of development in the plumage 

 of these birds. And if the latter would really be the case, 

 which of both , the red or the black , will represent the 

 fully developed plumage of the adult female? 



There are, in reality, not two of the numerous females, 

 even from the same locality, one alike the other , and much 

 more authentical material must be gathered, before we can 

 decisively settle that difficult question. 



Habitat. Unknown. 



The only specimen of this species, at present known in 

 any Museum , is the above described adult male , which 

 has already made part of Temminck's old private collection 

 before the foundation of the Leydeu Museum. It bears, 

 underneath the stand, in Temminck's own hand- writing 

 the name »Lophophorus Macartneyi^ Chine". There can be 

 little doubt that this specimen is the type of Temminck's 

 description of the adult male of his Houppifer (Gallus) 

 Macartneyi in Pig. et Gall. II, pp. 275—277. Taking in 

 consideration the abnormal shape of its extraordinarily 

 large and blunt spurs, it must have been kept in captivity, 

 and this having also been the case with Macartney's bird , 

 which , as we learn from Staunton, has been brought from 

 Batavia to England and examined by Shaw , I thought a 

 moment that our bird might be the type of Staunton's 

 and Shaw's, and also of Latham's (Suppl. Ind. Orn.). Ma- 

 cartney's bird , however , had a mutilated tail , while our 

 specimen has not, consequently this latter must have 

 another origin. 



Another specimen very likely belonging to this species, 

 is a live male in the Zoological Garden at Amsterdam. It 

 has the breast black and the flanks chestnut-brown like 

 in L. sumatrana , thus somewhat darker than in our above 

 described L. ignita. The central tail-feathers are of a some- 

 Notes from the Jjeyden Miuseiitii , A^ol. XVII. 



I 



