ALL FOR THE HEN 197 
I have told you how large the wings of the Argus 
Pheasant are; when he spreads them out to show to 
the hen bird (who has nothing like them), they look 
like two banners or two beautiful feather-fans, the 
kind of fans that you see Eastern queens being fanned 
with, in the pictures. Then he has a very fine tail as 
well, as I told you. Two of the feathers in it are 
very long indeed—quite four feet long, I should 
think—and as broad as a man’s hand, if not broader, 
near the base (which means where they begin), but ’ 
getting gradually narrower towards the tips. On 
one side, these feathers are a soft, rich brown, with 
silver-white spots, and, on the other, a soft, silver 
grey, with silver-white spots. When the Argus 
Pheasant spreads out his two great wings, he takes 
care to lift up his fine handsome tail, as well, so that 
the two long feathers of it are quite high in the air. 
So there is his tail going up like a rocket, whilst his 
wings spread out on each side of it, like feather-fans, 
and his head comes out between them, just in the 
middle, and makes a polite bow to the hen. That is 
the right way to do it, and the Argus Pheasant 
would rather not do it at all than not do it properly. 
Oh, he takes a great deal of trouble about it, and all 
for the hen—which is unselfish. 
This beautiful Argus Pheasant lives in Sumatra— 
which is a large island of. the Malay Archipelago— 
