3G0 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



ARGUS PHEASANT. 



yellow with a crimson wing, and rivalling the colibris by the 

 metallic lustre of their plumage, they surpass them by their 

 musical powers, for the latter can only hum, but the sun-birds 

 accompany their movements with an agreeable chirp. 



While the superb ocellated turkey of 

 Honduras {Meleagris ocellata) displays, 

 with all the pride of a peacock, the eye- 

 like marks of his tail and upper-coverts, 

 the no less beautifully spotted Argus, 

 a bird nearly related to the gold and 

 silver pheasants which have been intro- 

 duced from China into the European 

 aviaries, conceals hi's splendour in the 

 dense forests of Java and Sumatra. The 

 wings of this magnificent creature, whose 

 plumage is equally remarkable for variety 

 and elegance, consist of very large feathers, 

 nearly three feet long, the outer webs being adorned with a 

 row of large eyes, arranged parallel to the shaft ; the tail is 

 composed of twelve feathers, the two middle ones being about 

 four feet in length, the next scarcely two, and gradually 

 shortening to the outer ones. Its voice is plaintive and not 

 harsh, as in the Indian peacock, which Alexander the Grreat 

 is said to have first introduced into Europe, though its feathers 

 had many centuries before been imported by the Phoenicians. 

 The Peacock is still found wild in many parts of Asia and 

 Africa, but more particularly in the fertile 

 plains of India. Another species, nearly 

 similar in size and proportions, but dis- 

 tinguished by a much longer crest, in- 

 habits the Javanese forests. 



The tropical wading birds of the old 

 world are no less remarkable for beauty 

 or size than those of equatorial America. 

 The rose-coloured Flamingo, with red 

 wings and black quills, adorns the creeks 

 and rivers of tropical Africa and Asia, and in warm summers 

 extends his migrations as far northward as Strasburg or 

 the Khine. The sight of a troop of flamingoes approaching 

 on the wing and describing a great fiery triangle in the air is 



JAVANESE PEACOCK. 



