166 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



developed secondary wing feathers, which are 

 confined to the male, are ornamented with a 

 row of from twenty to twenty-three ocelli, each 

 above an inch in diameter. The feathers are 

 also elegantly marked with oblique dark stripes 

 and rows of spots like those on the skin of a 

 tiger and leopard combined. The ocelli are so 

 beautifully shaded that they stand out like a 

 ball lying loosely within a socket. But when I 

 looked at the specimen in the British Museum, 

 which is mounted with the wings expanded and 

 trailing downwards, I was greatly disappointed, 

 for the ocelli appeared flat or even concave, 

 Mr. Gould, however, soon made the case clear 

 to me, for he had made a drawing of a male 

 whilst he was displaying himself. At such times 

 the long secondary feathers in both wings are 

 vertically erected and expanded, and these, 

 together with the enormously elongated tail 

 feathers, make a grand semi-circular upright fan. 

 Now as soon as the wing feathers are held in 

 this position, and the light shines on them from 

 above, the full effect of the shading comes out, 

 and each ocellus resembles the ornament called the 

 ball-and-socket. These feathers have been shown 

 to several artists, and all have expressed their 

 admiration at the perfect shading. The primary 

 wing feathers, which in most gallinaceous birds 

 are uniformly coloured, are in the Argus pheasant 

 not less wonderful objects than the secondary 



