THE BARRED -TAILED PHEASANT. 203 



abled to give a figure and more detailed account ; 

 the former has now served for the accompanying il- 

 lustration. It appears to be extremely rare in 

 China, and to be brought from the confines of the em- 

 pire to Pekin, where it is kept in the menageries of 

 the most wealthy. Temminck is also of opinion 

 that their exportation is prohibited under a severe 

 penalty. The most remarkable feature in this bird 

 is the extraordinary and disproportional length of 

 the tail. Temminck gives the length of the longest 

 feather as above four feet, while Dr Latham remarks, 

 " Some years since, I had an opportunity of seeing 

 a bundle of thirty or forty of these tail feathers, 

 which were brought from China : I found among 

 them every length from more than seven feet to 

 eighteen inches." The body of the bird is about 

 the size of the Silver Pheasant of our Plate XVJII. 

 A small portion round the eye is bare of feathers, and 

 is red. The head is covered with a cowl of white, 

 surrounded by a narrow band of black, broadest to- 

 wards the ears. Two white collars cover the neck, 

 and are broadest on the fore part ; the first stretches 

 from the base of the bill upon the throat, the second 

 spreads upon the breast. The back of the neck, 

 back, and rump, are covered with feathers, in the 

 form of scales, of a rich and brilliant golden-yellow* 

 and terminated at the extremity by a narrow band 

 of black ; the plumes of the breast and lower parts 

 are of a shining white, covered by two irregular 

 bands of deep black, and tipped with a band of 



