1870.] MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON NEW PHEASANTS. 407 
elsewhere, this separated from the broad chestnut margin by a line 
of black ; secondaries dark brown, mottled with buff and black, and 
very broadly margined with dark chestnut on the upper ones, the 
edges of rest yellowish brown; primaries dark brown, irregularly 
barred with yellowish white on both webs; back and rump light 
green mottled with buff and dark green. Upper part of breast deep 
rich red, purple in certain lights, margined with dark blue, and a 
triangular spot of the same in the centre at the tip; flanks white, 
the ends of the feathers dark metallic blue; abdomen dark green 
separated from the white of the flanks by a line of deep chestnut 
composed of the inner webs of the lowest flank-feathers. Thighs 
black ; under tail-coverts red. Central tail-feathers pale green in the 
ceutre, chestnut on the edges, the green barred with broad black 
bands close together, these changing to chestnut on the edges; 
lateral feathers similar, but mottled with buff and black on the inner 
webs, and terminal portion of the outer web without bars ; bill pale 
greenish yellow ; tarsi and feet brownish ; irides white. 
Length 14 inches; wings 93 in.; tail 12}in.; tarsi 2} in.; mid- 
dle toe 1? in. 
Female. Head pale buff, much blotched with black on the crown, 
and rosy on the cheeks ; upper part of back dark chestnut, with a 
terminal irregular bar of black and tipped with white ; rest of upper 
parts black, the feathers margined with reddish buff, and the shafts 
buff; tail buff, closely barred with black, and mottled on the edges 
with the same; wings lighter than the back, the buff being more 
prominent, but similarly marked; primaries dark brown, and barred 
with yellowish buff as in the male ; upper part of breast dark buff 
with a reddish tinge, some of the feathers with black longitudinal 
lines ; rest of underparts dark buff faintly mottled with brown. 
Length 13in.; wing 8 in.; tail 8in.; tarsus 2 in. ; bill 1j in. 
This is the common Pheasant of the Island of Formosa, and, 
although resembling the well known P. torquatus of China, differs 
from it, in both the sexes, by many and striking characteristics. 
The male differs from that of P. torquatus by the narrow ring on the 
neck, the conspicuously broad white superciliary stripe, the light- 
coloured mantle, the scapulars with their largely developed white 
centres free from mottling, the green rump (blue in its ally), the 
white flank-feathers, the broadly barred short tail, and by the white 
eye, which, as I am informed by Mr. Swinhoe, is a constant charac- 
ter. Some of the above-mentioned distinctions might be regarded 
by some as evidences of albinism ; and if there were but a single spe- 
cimen marked, the supposition might be an important one; but all 
those brought by Mr. Swinhoe agree together in their markings, 
and he tells me that all of this form upon the island also agree with 
these types. The female possesses equally peculiar markings to 
distinguish her from the hen of P. torguatus, being much darker— 
in fact, almost black upon the upper parts. 
This species, although undoubtedly of the same origin as the P. 
torquatus, has, from the physical causes operating upon it peculiar 
to its island home, undergone in the course of time the changes 
