1 64 Zoological Society : — 



EuPLOCAMUs SwiNHOii, Gould. 



Male: forehead black, gradually blending into the snowy-white 

 lanceolate plumes which form a slight crest, and continue in a 

 narrow line down the nape of the neck ; back snowy white, offering a 

 strong contrast to the narrow black line with which it is bounded 

 on each side, and the rich fiery chestnut of the scapularies ; lower 

 part of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts intense velvety black, 

 broadly margined with shining steel or bluish black, these scale- 

 like feathers gradually becoming of a larger size and of a more uniform 

 black as they approach the tail-feathers ; wings blackish brown ; the 

 greater and lesser coverts fringed with green ; two centre tail-feathers 

 snow-white, the remainder black ; the somewhat elongated feathers 

 of the chest and flanks black, with shining blue reflexions ; thighs 

 and under tail-coverts dull black ; legs and spurs blood-red, except 

 the tips of the latter, which are brown ; sides of the face mottled to 

 an extent seldom seen even among Gallinaceous birds ; in front this 

 appearance extends to the nostrils, while posteriorly it terminates in 

 a point near the occiput; a large lappet hangs down over each cheek, 

 and a more pointed one rises, in the form of a horn, high above the 

 crown, the whole being of the finest red, and covered with papillae, 

 as in the Gennceus nychthemenis ; bill light horn-colour. 



Total length, 28 inches; bill, 1| ; wing, 9 ; tail, 17; tarsi, 4. 



Female : this sex offers a strong contrast to the male, from there 

 being no appearance of a crest in any specimen I have seen, and in 

 the entire plumage being reddish or orange-brown, particularly the 

 under surface ; when examined in detail, however, many different 

 but harmonizing tints are seen on the various parts of the body : on 

 the back of the neck, mantle, scapularies, and lesser wing- coverts, the 

 freckled brown feathers have lanceolate or spearhead-shaped mark- 

 ings surrounded with black down their centres, while the rump and 

 unper tail-coverts are more uniformly and more finely freckled with 

 orange and dark brown ; primaries alternately barred on both surfaces 

 with chestnut and dark brown ; secondaries dark brown, conspicuously 

 barred with ochre-yellow ; throat brownish grey ; chest orange- 

 brown, each feather with two crescentic markings of dark brown 

 centre of the abdomen and thighs orange-brown, slightly freckled 

 with darker brown ; two centre tail-feathers dark brown, obscurely 

 barred with buff; lateral tail-feathers nearly uniform deep chestnut; 

 bill horn-colour ; space surrounding the eye and the legs red. 



Total length, 18 inches; bill, 1^; wing, 8-i- ; tail, 8; tarsi, 3. 



Remark. — This exceedingly beautiful species is one of the most 

 remarkable novelties I have had the good fortune to describe ; in 

 Bize it is somewhat smaller than the Geroxeiis vychthemervs, which it 

 resembles in its red wattles and in the form of its tail, while in its 

 strong legs, the scaly stiff feathers of the lower part of its back, the 

 red-and-white colouring of the anterior portion of its upper surface, 

 and in its steel-blue crest it more closely assimilates, in my o] inion, 

 to the niembers of the genus Eiiplocamus ; and with that group, the 

 Fire-backs, I have accordingly associated it. 



