132 SEXUAL SELECTION: BIRDS. [Part II. 



they arc soinetinics called peacock-pheasants. I am also 

 informed by Mr. Bartlett that they resemble the peacock 

 in their voice and in some of their habits. During the 

 spring the males, as previously described, strut about be- 

 fore the comparatively plain-colored females, expanding 

 and erecting their tail and wing feathers, which are orna- 

 mented with numerous ocelli. I re(iuest the reader to 

 turn back to the drawing (Fig. 51, p. 86) of a Polyplec- 

 tron. In P. jyapoleonis the ocelli are confined to the tail, 

 and the back is of a rich metallic blue, in which respects 

 this species approaches the Java peacock. P. Ilardwickii 

 possesses a peculiar top-knot, somewhat like that of this 

 same kind of peacock. The ocelli on the wings and tail 

 of the several species of Polyplectron are either circular 

 or oval, and consist of a beautiful, iridescent, greenish- 

 blue or greenish-purple disk, with a black border. This 

 border in P. chinquis shades into brown which is edged 

 with cream-color, so that the ocellus is here surrounded 

 with differently, though not brightly, shaded concentric 

 zones. The imusual length of the tail-coverts is another 

 highly-remarkable character in Polyplectron; for in some 

 of the species they are half as long, and in others two- 

 thirds of the length of the true tail-feathers. The tail-cov- 

 erts are ocellated, as in the peacock. Thus the several 

 species of Polyjilectron manifestly make a graduated ap- 

 proach in the length of their tail-coverts, in the zoning of 

 the ocelli, and in some other characters, to the peacock. 



Notwithstanding this approach, the first species of 

 Polyplectron which I hapj)eued to examine almost made 

 me give up the search ; for I found not only that the true 

 tail-feathers, which in the peacock are quite plain, Avere 

 ornamented with ocelli, but that the ocelli on all the 

 feathers differed fundamentallj^ from those of the peacock, 

 in there being two on the same feather (Fig. 54), one on 

 each side of the shaft. Hence I concluded that the early 



