700 PEACOCK 
“japanned ” plumage, leading to the conclusion that the latter may 
be due to “reversion to a primordial and otherwise extinct condi- 
tion of the species,” and it is to be observed that the “japanned ” 
male has in the coloration of the parts mentioned no little re- 
semblance to that of the second indubitably good species, the 
P. muticus (or P. spicifer of some writers) of Burma and Java, 
though the character of the latter’s crest—the feathers of which 
are barbed along their whele length instead of at the tip only—and 
“ JaAPANNED” PEarow.s. (After Wolf in Elliot's ‘ Phasianide.’) 
its golden-green neck and breast furnish a ready means of distine- 
tion. The late Sir R. Heron was confident that the “japanned” 
breed had arisen in England within his memory,' and Darwin 
(Anim. and Plants wnder Domestic. i. pp. 290-292) was inclined to 
believe it only a variety ; but its abrupt appearance, which rests on 
indisputable evidence, is most suggestive in the light that it may 
1 This may have been the case as regards England ; but I have a distinct 
recollection of having seen a bird of this form represented in an old Dutch 
picture, though when or where I cannot state. An instance of its sudden pro- 
duction from the ordinary stock oceurred to my own knowledge as mentioned by 
Mr. Darwin. 
