240 HORNED PHEASANT. 



neck and throat is a loose flap, of an exceeding" 

 fine blue colour, marked with orange spots ; the 

 lower part of it beset with a few hairs : down the 

 middle it is looser than down the sides, being 

 wrinkled : the breast and upper parts of the back 

 of a full red : the neck and breast incline to 

 orange ; the other parts of the plumage and tail 

 rufous brown,* marked all over with white spots, 

 encompassed with black : the legs are whitish, and 

 furnished with a spur behind each. 



" The female is without the horns, so con- 

 spicuous in the male. The feathers of the head 

 and part of the neck are silky black, with a blue 

 gloss ; marked on the sides of the throat with an 

 irregular patch of red : the feathers on the back 

 part of the head -and nape are crimson ; and the 

 whole top of the head furnished with long loose 

 feathers, tending backwards : the markings on the 

 body much like those of the male, but scarcely so 

 bright : the back, and part of the wing-coverts, 

 besides the spots of white, are in both most beau- 

 tifully intermixed with streaks of black and crim- 

 son, upon a fillemot ground : the rump and tail- 

 feathers somewhat similar, the crimson descending 

 towards the tail, the ends of which are dusky 

 black : the legs are furnished with a blunt spur 

 behind." This bird when alive had the faculty 

 of dilating and lengthening the flap on the throat, 



* The male is said by Latham, but perhaps erroneously, to 

 possess twenty feathers in its tail. 



