FHEASANTS. 429 



hackles so much in request for making salmon-flies, and the green jungle-fowl 



((r. varius), of Java, Lombok, and Flores, distinguished by having an entire 



upper margin to the comb, and only a single wattle on the throat. 



Peacock- The peacock-pheasants present a different type, with their large, 



Pheasants, f^u^ an^j rounded tails ornamented with metallic eye-like spots ; the 



sides of the face being naked, or nearly so, and the legs of the males armed with 



two, and sometimes three pairs of spurs. Having a distribution very similar to 



that of the jungle-fowl, they only extend into India as far east as Darjiling, and 



inhabit the dense hill-forests ranging from a little above the sea-level to an 



elevation of some six thousand feet. The grey peacock-pheasant {Poly plectrum 



chinquis) of the Indo-Burmese countries, is a remarkably handsome bird, the male 



having the general colour of the upper-parts brown dotted all over with dirty 



white, and each of the feathers of the mantle and wings ornamented with a large, 



round, dark green eye-spot, showing violet, purple, and blue reflections, and edged 



with successive rings of black, brown, and dirty white ; the upper tail-coverts and 



tail-feathers being similarly ornamented with pairs of oval spots, situated on each 



side of the shaft at some distance from the extremity, and wholly green in one 



light and purple in the other. The throat is thinly covered with white feathers, 



and the rest of the under-parts are brown with irregular, mottled, and dotted bars 



of dirty white ; the naked skin on the sides of the face being pale fleshy yellow. 



The female is darker, and has the eye -spot on the back and wings represented by 



black spots slightly glossed with purple, while those of the tail are only present 



on the outer feathers and are much reduced in size. Mr. Clarke, writing of this 



species, says, it " is common in the north-east of Cachar, where it is found in 



dense bamboo-jungle, on the sides of ravines, and on the tops of the low ranges of 



hills, wherever there are jamum trees, as well as on the banks of the river Barak, 



wherever it is well wooded. On the rocky faces of the Barak banks there is a 



tree which, during the rainy season, is partially submerged, but in cold weather 



bears a fruit with seeds like those of a chilli. On these the birds feed greedily 



in the early morning and towards sunset ; insects and worms, with this fruit, form 



their chief food, but I have on one occasion found small land-shells and pebbles in 



the stomach of an adult male." 



Among the most sino-ular representatives of the family are the 

 Argus-Pheasants. " ^ . . , 



argus-pheasants, distinguished by their large size, enormously 



developed and eyed secondary quills, which far exceed the outer flight-feathers in 



length, and their extremely long middle tail-feathers. The shape of the wing 



is specially remarkable, and may be regarded as representing the extreme type of 



nional wing; the first flight-feather being the shortest, and the tenth the longest, 



or exactly the reverse of what obtains in the quails and snow-partridge. The 



common argus (Argusianus giganteus) is met with in the forests of Siam, 



Tenasserim, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra, M'^hile in Borneo the smaller, Gray's 



argus (A. grayi), takes its place. The male of the true argus has the naked skin 



of the sides of the head, throat, and fore-part of the neck dark blue ; the feathers 



on the crown and the short crest black ; the upper-parts beautifully chequered, 



mottled, or spotted with black and buff; the chest rufous barred with black ; and the 



rest of the under-parts black with wavy bars of chestnut and buff! The primary 



