SOEMMEBRING'S PHEASANT. 203 



white ; eye orbits red ; bill brown colour ; feet bluish-brown 

 colour. 



" The female has a patch of dark brown at the back of 

 the head^ with a narrow bordering of rufous at the end of 

 each feather; feathers of the head and upper surface 

 generally mottled with rufous, with a narrow edging of 

 black at the tip, and with a stripe down the centre, which on 

 the sides of the neck and shoulders is white, and on the 

 other parts deep buff ; rump and upper tail coverts deep 

 rust red, each feather faintly barred with dark brown, some 

 of the wing coverts marked at the tip with black and white, 

 as io the male, but the marks are broader, and not so pui'e ; 

 throat deep buff, feathers of the under surface brown, largely 

 striped down the centre, and tipped with pale or creamy buff, 

 and bordered on each side with tawny ; tail short, central 

 feathers greyish brown, freckled with dark brown; lateral 

 feathers rufous, crossed obliquely near the tip with dark 

 brown, beyond which the end is white." 



Under the title of P. scintillans, a variety of this 

 pheasant has been described as a distinct species, but it 

 appears to differ only in the male having the feathers 

 on the back more or less completely margined or tipped 

 with white. 



Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, in his "Handbook to the 

 Game Birds," writes : " It can only be recognised as a well 

 marked variety, for it not only occurs in the same islands 

 where the P. soemmerringii is found, but every intermediate 

 stage of plumage between the two forms may be seen.^' 



