006 THE CRESTED PEACOCK PHEASANT. 



chickens. The poor little birds would slowly back away from the trough as the Peacock 

 advanced, not liking to lose sight of their food, and not daring to remain in defiance 

 of their persecutor. By degrees he got them all into a corner, crouching together and 

 trembling, when he would overshadow them with his train, place the ends of the 

 feathers against the wall so as to cover them completely, rattle the quills heartily so as 

 to frighten them extremely, and then would walk off, looking quite exultant at the 

 trick he had just played. He did not care for eating their food, but left the trough 

 untouched. 



The train of the male Peacock, although popularly called its tail, is in reality composed 

 of the upper tail-coverts, which are enormously lengthened, and finished at their extremities 

 with broad rounded webs, or with spear-shaped ends. The shafts of these feathers are 

 almost bare of web for some fourteen or fifteen inches of their length, and then throw out 

 a number of long loose vanes of a liglit coppery green. These are very brittle and apt to 

 snap off at different lengths. In the central feathers the extremity is modified into a 

 wide fiattened battledore-shaped form, each barbule being coloured with refulgent emerald 

 green, deep violet-purple, gi-eenish bronze, gold and blue, in such a manner as to form a 

 distinct "eye," the centre being violet of two shades, surrounded with emerald, and the 

 other tints being arranged concentrically around it. In the feathers that edge the train 

 there is no " eye," the feathers coming to a point at the extremity, and having rather wide 

 but loose emerald green barbules on its outer web, and a few scattered coppery barbules 

 in the place of the inner web. The tail-feathers are only seven or eight inches in length, 

 are of a greyish brown colour, and can be seen when the train is erected, that being their 

 appointed task. 



On the head is a tuft or aigrette of twenty-four upright feathers, blackish upon their 

 almost naked shafts and rich golden green shot with blue on their expanded tips. The 

 top of the head, the throat and neck, are the most refulgent blue, changing in different 

 lights to gold and green. On the back the feathers are golden green, edged witli velvety 

 black, giving a peculiar richness of effect. The wings are darker than the rest of the 

 plumage, the quill-feathers being marked with black, and having some red aboutt hem 

 The abdomen is blackish with a green gloss, and the feathers of the thighs are fawn. 

 The female is much smaller than her mate, and not nearly so beautiful, the train being 

 almost wanting, and the colour ashy brown with the exception of the throat and neck, 

 which are green. A white or albino variety of this bird is not at all uncommon, and 

 in this case the characteristic " eyes " are faintly indicated in neutral tint. 



The generic term Polyplectron signifies "many-spurred," and is given to a genus of 

 gallinaceous birds because they have two or sometimes three spurs on each leg. There 

 are several species, all very handsome birds, and one of the most conspicuous is the 

 Crested Peacock Pheasant. As is the case with all the species, the tail is greatly 

 enlarged, so as to be spread into a flat, wide, fan-like form, with two ranges of feathers 

 placed one above each other, and decorated with a double row of large lightly coloured 

 spots. It probably inhabits Soudan and the Moluccas, but there is little known of its 

 habits. 



The l;)eautiful crest which adorns the head is very deep shining violet-blue, and the 

 head, neck, and breast are of the same colour. Over the eye runs a white streak, and a 

 white patch is placed just below and behind the eye, contrasting very boldly with the 

 deep violet of the surrounding plumage. The back is brown, covered with irregular wavy 

 lines of a paler hue, and the wing-coverts and secondaries are bright azure tipped witli 

 velvety black. The tail is brown, covered with innumerable little spots of yellowish 

 Avhite, and each feather is marked near the tip with a large oval spot of shining metallic 

 green, surrounded first with a waved line of black and then with a broader line of pale 

 brown. Close to the tip each feather is bordered with black, and the extremity is pale 

 fawn. The abdonieu is dull black. In total length, this bird measures about twenty 

 inches. 



Tnfe Pheasants come next in order, and the grandest and most imposing of tliis group, 

 although there are many others that surpass its brilliant colouring, is the Argus Pheasant, 



