THE JAVANESE PEA-FOWL. 269 



and tail-feathers, which are capable of being elevated 

 and expanded, and in this position form one of the most 

 beautiful objects in the creation. The bill is of mode- 

 rate size, slightly curved, with open nostrils placed near 

 its base ; the head is almost wholly feathered ; the legs 

 are armed with strong conical spurs ; the hind toe 

 touches the ground only with its claw ; and the wings 

 are short and concave, the sixth quill-feather being the 

 longest of the series. In the species now under con- 

 sideration, the prevailing tints are blue and green, 

 varying in intensity and mutually changing into each 

 other according as the light falls more or less directly 

 upon them. In size and proportions the two birds are 

 nearly similar, but the crest of the present species is 

 twice as long as that of the other, and the feathers of 

 which it is composed are regularly barbed from the 

 base upwards in the adult bird, and of equal breadth 

 throughout. The head and crest are interchangeably 

 blue and green. A naked space on the cheeks including 

 the eyes and ears is coloured of a light yellow behind, 

 and bluish green towards its fore part. The feathers of 

 the neck and breast, which are broad, short, rounded, 

 and imbricated like the scales of a fish, are at their base 

 of the same brilliant hue as the head, and have a broad, 

 lighter, somewhat metallic margin ; those of the back 

 have still more of the metallic lustre. The wing-coverts 

 are of the general hue, with a deeper tinge of blue ; the 

 primary quill-feathers are light chestnut. The tail- 

 feathers and their coverts are of a splendid metallic 

 brown changing into green ; their barbs are extremely 

 long, loose, silky, and somewhat decomposed ; and the 

 latter are almost all terminated by similar ocellated 

 spots to those which mark the tail of the common 

 species, and of nearly the same size. As in it they are 

 of a beautiful deep purple in the centre, which is about 

 the size of a shillina; ; this is surrounded by a band of 



