-238 PHEASANTS FOB COVERTS AND AVIARIES 



with brown^ and with inner barbs of the colour of a fallow 

 deer, dotted with white, have their shafts of the most 

 beautiful sky blue. The naked skin of the face and neck is 

 bright blue, and contrasts well with the bronze hue of the 

 plumage. The female neither exhibits the extraordinary 

 development of the tail and wings nor the eye-like spots of 

 the male. Her plumage is darker, and the total length is 

 only twenty-six inches. 



The two specimens (a male and female) figured in the 

 engraving had been living some few years in the Zoological 

 Gardens in the Regent's Park when the first edition of this 

 work was published, at which time only five specimens of the 

 Argus had been seen alive in Europe ; since then it has been 

 more frequently imported, and a dozen adult specimeos have 

 been received in the Zoological Gardens, and several young 

 have been bred there. In addition to those in the Regent's 

 Park, others have lived in the possession of the King of Italy, 

 and in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam. It is singular 

 that the Argus^ although so exceedingly shy when wild, 

 becomes perfectly tame in captivity, returning to its aviary 

 when allowed to escape, as related by Lieut. Kilham in the 

 Ibis for 1881. 



The ornamentation of the secondar}^ wing feathers in the 

 male Argus is one of the most wonderful in the whole 

 animal kingdom ; the ornamental marks are usually termed 

 ocelli or eyes, but they much more closely resemble ball and 

 socket ornaments. As these ocelli are not visible when the 

 wing is closed, the mode in which they were displayed has 

 hitherto rather been conjectured than described, and even in 

 z-ecent works the bird has been portrayed displaying its 

 plumage in a perfectly unnatural manner. 



Fortunately, however, the pair of Argus pheasants formerly 

 in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, were closely watched 

 for some days in succession by the late Mr. T. W. Wood, 

 who had several opportunities of seeing the male bird display 

 the magnificence of its plumage, and made a drawing of it at 



