ARGUS PHEASANTS PEA-FOWL., 239 



Mr. Clark once came across a party of four, consisting of one male and three 

 female birds. In Palawan Mr. Whitehead found that Napoleon's peacock 

 pheasant had a "showing-off" ground, like that of the argus pheasants, a 

 bare space cleared in the forest, kept scrupulously clean, " with a small hump 

 of earth in the middle, where, no doubt, the male birds show off their splendid 

 plumage, and perhaps do battle. ' ; He adds that the fights, if they have any, 

 must be very short and decisive, as the double spurs of the cocks would be 

 sufficient to cut his adversary into bits. In the Himalayan species, P. 

 chinquis, which ranges into Cachar and Tenasserim, as many as four spurs 

 are sometimes found on the legs of the male. 



Of these extraordinary pheasants, three species are known : the com- 

 mon argus (A. argus) of the Malay Peninsula, Gray's argus (A. grayi) 

 of Borneo, and A. bipunctatus, the habitat of which is at 

 present unknown. In Tonquin the crested argus (Rhein- The Argus 

 hardius ocellatus) occurs. The argus pheasants are remark- Pheasants. 

 able for "the hundred metallic eyes" on the wings, the Genus 



feathers of which are prolonged in an extraordinary Aryusiamis. 

 manner, while the tail-feathers exceed in length the 

 dimensions of any of the Game-Birds. Like the giraffe, which most 

 people would think to be incapable of threading its way through jungle, 

 the apparently clumsy argus makes its escape by darting into the 

 thicket, and it is one of the most difficult of birds to force into flight. 

 So says the greatest of modern collectors of birds, the late Mr. W. R. 

 Davison, who spent years in the jungles of Tenasserim and the Malayan 

 Peninsula, engaged in forming that wonderful collection of Oriental birds 

 presented to the nation in 1885 by Mr. Allen Hume, C.B. In Tenasserim he paid 

 great attention to the habits of the argus, and is perhaps the only white man 

 who has seen the bird in its native haunts. He" found them extremely shy 

 and difficult of observation, never rising, but seeking safety in running away 

 through the thick jungle. The males themselves do not seem to engage in 

 combat, though they will answer each other's call. The note is " how-how," 

 repeated ten or a dozen times, though the report of a gun in the neighbour- 

 hood, or the passing of a troop of monkeys, will set every male calling. The 

 cry of the female is different, " how-o-woo," repeated ten times or more. 

 The males clear an open space in the forest, which Mr. Davison believed to 

 be a " dancing-ground," though he never caught a bird inflagrante delicto. Not 

 a leaf is allowed to soil the hallowed spot, though occasionally a male of the 

 fire-back pheasant will intrude, and take a savage delight in driving the 

 argus from his carefully-prepared " arena." 



Two kinds of pea-fowl are known, the common Paro cristatus of India 

 and Ceylon, and P. muticus of Indo-China and the Malayan Peninsula. 

 These birds do not ascend the mountains, as a rule, but are 

 plentiful in the plains of North- Western India, and in The Pea-Fowl. 

 Rajputana they are held sacred by the natives. Near Jey- Genus Paro. 

 pur, for instance, the number of pea-fowl is very large, and 

 they can be observed from the windows of the passing train, walking alout 

 in the grass near the sides of the line, or perching on the fences. They are 

 very well-known birds in confinement, and the "train" of eyed plumes, 

 formed by the elongated upper tail-coverts of the male bird, is one of the 

 most extraordinary developments of plumage in the Class Aves. 



Two very aberrant forms of guinea-fowl, Phasidus and Agedastes, inhabit 

 West Africa, from Liberia to the Congo ; but the true guinea-fowls (Numida) 



