202 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



offspring would have a much shorter tail than that of the pure 

 offspring of Soemmerring's pheasant," — " The Descent of 

 Man/' Vol. II., p. 156. 



The following description of the two sexes is taken from 

 Gould's Birds of Asia : — " The male has the whole of the 

 upper surface and throat of a fine coppery brown, with a 

 lighter border to each feather, which in some lights appear 

 of a purple hue ; in others rich coppery red, and in 

 others again bright but deep flame colour — this latter 

 tint being especially conspicuous on the lower part of the 

 back and upper tail coverts. This is the general appear- 

 ance. On examining each feather singly, it is found to be 

 grey at the base, dark rich brown in the middle, with a 

 broad stripe down the centre, and on each side of dark 

 coppery brown, with a lustrous stripe on each side of the tip; 

 wing coverts the same, but devoid of the lustre at the tips ; 

 a few of the greater coverts with a narrow bar of creamy 

 white at the tip, within which is a still narrower one of 

 black. Primaries dark brown, crossed by irregular broken 

 bands of a tawny hue ; secondaries dark brown, freckled 

 near the tip with tawny, and a large patch of deep rufous 

 near the end of the outer web, becoming much paler at the 

 extremity ; on the tips at the inner webs of several of them 

 the double mark of white and black, as on the greater 

 coverts. Tail rich chesnut red with black shafts, and 

 crossed at intervals of about two inches with a narrow 

 irregular band of black, and a second broader and more 

 decided band of the same colour — the space between the 

 bands being of a similar but paler tint than the body of the' 

 feather ; the second band of black, moreover, becomes 

 broader, and gradually blends with the general colours of the 

 feathers as they approach the extremity — on some the 

 intermediate pale band is white; feathers of the under 

 surface marked like the upper, but the bordering is not 

 luminous, and terminates in dull grey, within which, on the 

 lower part of the sides of the abdomen, is a narrow line of 



