114 PHEASANTS ADAPTED FOR THE AVIARY. 
is that of the Golden Pheasant, whose elegant form and brilliant colouring 
are so well known in this country. The male runs very playfully after the 
female, and, placing himself in front of her, quickly expands his collar, bringing 
nearly the whole of it round to the side where it is to be exhibited, and thereby 
presenting to view a flat disc of bright orange-red, banded with perfect regularity 
by blue-black semicircles ; the hen on seeing this frequently runs away pursued by 
her would-be mate, who generally finds himself placed with his other side towards 
her, and the collar is accordingly shown on that side. At the moment the full 
expansion of the collar takes place, the bird utters a very snake-like hiss, which, 
according to our notions, would not be very fascinating as a love-song; the body is 
very much distorted, as is the case with the true pheasants, but the tail is not 
spread so much, as the curved, roof-like shape prevents its forming a flat surface. 
Slight breaks would occur in the black stripes of the collar when expanded, were, it 
not that each feather has a second black stripe which is so placed as effectually to 
vorevent this.” 
Below this tippet on the lower part of the neck the feathers are deep-green 
margined with velvet black; below this again are the scapular feathers of a dark 
crimson ; the back and rump are golden yellow;-the tail itself is very long, the two 
_ longest central feathers are covered with small irregular circles of light-brown on 
a dark ground, giving them a mottled appearance; the other feathers are barred 
diagonally with dark brown on a lighter ground. On each side of the base of the 
tail extend the long narrow upper tail. coverts of a bright orange crimson. The 
wings when closed show the deep blue tertiaries covering the chesnut secondary 
quills. The upper part of the throat is light-brown; the breast and under parts 
orange-scarlet. Taken altogether, its appearance is so remarkable that it looks more 
like one of the bizarre creations of Chinese fancy than a real bird. The birds of 
this genus differ from the true pheasants, in the fact that the mature masculine 
plumage is not assumed until the autumn of the second year; the young cocks 
looking, during the first twelve months of their lives, very much like the hens, 
from which, however, they can be readily distinguished by pulling one or two of the 
feathers of the neck, which are reproduced of the distinctive masculine character. 
The hens are very plain and unobtrusive, being barred with alternate shades 
of light and dark brown. When barren, they, like the other birds of the family, 
assume the more gorgeous apparel of the male. 
Under the name of the Black-Throated or Java Golden Pheasant (Thawmalea 
obscura) a variety of this bird has been described as “a good species.” It is 
evidently merely a variety that, like the black-winged peacock, may appear at any 
time amongst birds of the ordinary type, and could never be regarded as a species 
by those who have studied the subject of variation practically. It differs merely in 
the upper part of the throat being darker in colour and obscurely spangled, in the 
