THE FORK-TAILED COCK. 185 



to have a slightly forked form : the large hanging 

 feathers are of a rich metallic green, tinged with 

 steel-blue. The bill, legs, and feet, are yellow. 



The hen has a circle round the eyes only, naked 

 and of a livid tint : the head and back part of the 

 neck are brown, and above each eye there is a red- 

 dish streak : the back and wing-coverts are of a dull 

 green, with golden reflections, each feather having a 

 greyish-brown margin : the greater coverts and se- 

 condaries are black, with greenish reflections, waved 

 transversely with yellowish-brown, and having the 

 tips entirely of that colour; the tail and wings brown, 

 the feathers of the former edged with pale reddish, 

 the whole of the under parts are grey, the tips of the 

 feathers on the breast tipped with a deeper tint ; the 

 feet and legs are brown. 



This bird is said to be very abundant in Java, and 

 may be often seen during the day upon the edges 

 of the woods and jungles, but possesses the same 

 wary disposition of its congeners and the pheasants, 

 and upon the least alarm runs for cover. Tem- 

 minck observes that they are not kept in a domestic 

 state, but that they occasionally breed with the tame 

 hens a curious fact, and showing the uncertainty 

 with which the true origin is clouded. The cry 

 may be expressed, he says, by the syllables co-crek. 



The last that we shall here notice, is still more 

 remarkable in the form of the neck and back fea- 

 thers, which are completely separated in their form 

 and colour from all the others. It is 



