S@MMERRING’S PHEASANT. 107 
general appearance. On examining each feather singly, it is found to be grey at 
the base, dark rich brown in the middle, with a broad stripe down the centre, and 
on each side of dark coppery brown, with a lustrous stripe on each side of the tip; 
wing coverts the same, but devoid of the lustre at the tips; a few of the greater 
coverts with a narrow bar of creamy white at the tip, within which is a still 
narrower one of black. Primaries dark brown, crossed by irregular broken bands 
of a tawny hue; secondaries dark brown, freckled near the tip with tawny, and a 
large patch of deep rufous near the end of the outer web, becoming much paler 
at the extremity; on the tips at the inner webs of several of them the double mark 
of white and black, as on the greater coverts. Tail rich chesnut red with black 
shafts, and crossed at intervals of about two. inches with a narrow irregular band 
of black and a second broader and more decided band of the same colour—the 
space between the bands being of a similar but paler tint than the body of the 
feather; the second band of black, moreover, becomes broader, and gradually 
blends with the general colours of the feathers as they approach the extremity. 
On some the intermediate pale band is white; feathers of the under surface marked 
like the upper, but the bordering is not luminous, and terminates in dull grey, 
within which, on the lower part of the sides of the abdomen, is a narrow line of 
white; eye orbits red; bill brown colour; feet bluish-brown colour. 
“The female has a patch of dark brown at the back of thé head, with a 
narrow bordering of rufous at the end of each feather; feathers of the head and 
upper surface generally mottled with rufous, with a narrow edging of, black at the 
tip, and with a stripe down the centre, which on the sides of the neck and shoulders 
is white, and on the other parts deep buff; rump and upper tail coverts deep rust 
red, each feather faintly barred with dark brown, some of the wing coverts marked 
at the tip with black and white, as in the male, but the marks are broader, and 
not so pure; throat deep buff, feathers of the under surface brown, largely striped 
down the centre, and tipped with pale or creamy buff, and bordered on each side 
with tawny; tail short, central feathers greyish brown, freckled with dark brown ; 
lateral feathers rufous, crossed obliquely near the tip with dark brown, beyond 
which the end is white.” 
Under the title of P. scintillans, a variety of this pheasant has been 
described as a distinct species, but it appears to differ only in the male having the 
feathers on the back more or less completely margined or tipped with white. 
