576 



NATURE 



[October 20, 1923 



all doubt at rest as to its distinctness. Very few 

 examples have been obtained from its haunts in the 

 dense mountain forests which separate the Laos 

 country from Annam — a region which is inhabited 

 by semi-savage tribes. The Malay species {JR. 

 nigrescens) is also very rare, and only a few specimens 

 were procured among the central mountains of the 

 Peninsula. Mr. Beebe tells us that it is the most 

 mysterious of all the birds of the Argus group. He 

 lived in their neighbourhood, heard their calls, found 

 a dancing arena of an individual that had met with 

 disaster, and yet, after weeks of search, he never 

 caught a glimpse of the bird itself. 



The Argus pheasants (Argusianus), of which three 

 species are known, Mr. Beebe regards as being in many 

 ways the most extremely ornamented and specialised 

 members of the pheasant family. The adult males 

 measure six and a half feet in length ; two-thirds of 

 this is taken up by the central tail-feathers, while 

 " the ocelli on the secondaries are marvels of design 

 and shading, resembling marble-like spheres revolving 

 in separate sockets, and all with bright lights as 

 exquisite and effective as if carefully planned for some 

 exact and delicate purpose." The evolution of these 

 " eyes " is illustrated in one of the coloured plates. 

 The males make, and keep clear, large dancing areas 

 in which they call the females and where they show 

 off their marvellous frontal displays. Regarding the 

 Malay species {A. argus) and the Bomean bird (A. 

 gnayi), the author tells us that few white men have 

 shot or seen them in their wild homes, owing to the fact 

 that " no deliberate attempt has been made to circum- 

 vent the birds, or to adapt one's approach to the 

 peculiarities of life habits." Hence he was very anxious 

 to make as thorough a study as possible of these marvel- 

 lous creatures. At first he was pessimistic, being told 

 that he would not be able to get further than hearing 

 the birds. Many of their habits are affected by their 

 curious practice of creating special places — a cleared 

 arena about three yards in diameter — in the forest 

 jungle, where the male displays before the female. 

 Mr. Beebe found that it was here alone that he could 

 observe the birds, and, having made good use of this 

 discovery, he has been able to give elaborate descrip- 

 tions of what he observed. The third species, the 

 double-spotted Argus pheasant {A. hipunctaius), is 

 only known from a portion of a feather, without a 

 history, found in the British Museum in 187 1. This 

 differs so decidedly from any corresporiding feather 

 in the known species, that the author has little doubt 

 that it represents a distinct form. 



For the two species of peafowl, Mr. Beebe has estab- 

 lished a sub-family (Pavoninae) " on account of the 

 character of the tail moult, which typically is from 



NO. 2816, VOL. I 12] 



the central pair outward." They also '* form ;' 

 tinctly isolated group, and we have no idea of ^ 

 line of ancestry. The femoro - caudal muscle, for 

 example, is absent in Pavo and in Meleagris '•" 

 Turkeys] while present in all other gallinaceous I 

 the syrinx in Pavo is simpler than in any oth< 

 its family." Of the two species, the well-k: 

 Indian bird {Pavo cristatus), from which the don. 

 bird is descended, is a native of India, Assam, and 

 Ceylon. Its habits are well described by the author 

 from personal observation. Semi-domesticated pea- 

 fowl occur in many parts of India and are considered 

 sacred birds ; while the black-winged form is a very 

 remarkable sport or mutation occurring sporadically 

 among domestic Indian birds, sometimes one or two 

 appearing in a brood. Albino birds are never found 

 in a wild state. The second species, the green peafowl 

 {P. muticus), is a native of Chittagong, Burma, Siam. 

 Cochin China, Malay Peninsula, and Java. The habits 

 of the two species are almost identical, where Indian 

 birds only are considered ; but even where the green 

 bird is most abundant, it occurs in small isolated 

 groups, which are extremely sedentary. 



Mr. Beebe is to be heartily congratulated on the 

 completion of his great work. Many excellent Mono- 

 graphs devoted to various groups of birds have appeared, 

 including princely volumes on the pheasants, but no 

 treatise on any group has ever been so enriched by 

 the researches of its author as this. Yet, Mr. Beebe, 

 great traveller and naturalist as he is, only achieved 

 success with many species through his unfailing 

 enthusiasm and a remarkable display of indomitable 

 determination. Indeed he failed only where success 

 appears to have been humanly impossible. 



W. E. C. 



Vitamins. 



Vital Factors oj Foods : Vitamins and Nutrition. By 

 C. Ellis and Prof. Annie L. Macleod. Pp. xvi -1-391. 

 (London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1923.) 25^. net. 



IF there still remain people sceptical of the existence 

 of what have been called " vitamins," this book 

 should go far to convince them that there are certain 

 elusive substances, present in food only in the most 

 minute quantity, but nevertheless necessarj' to enable 

 growth to take place and to maintain normal health. 

 The reviewer is unaware of the publication of any 

 other work on this subject of so comprehensive and 

 impartial a nature as the present one. In a branch 

 of knowledge on which so much research is still being 

 carried on, it is not to be expected that the ver>' 

 latest discoveries should find their way to a text- 

 book, but that of Ellis and Macleod appears to have 



