240 CLASS AVES. 



never could, howeA^er, succeed in procuring a complete spoil. 

 All that he could obtain, were two long feathers of the middle 

 of the tail. These feathers, in possession of M. Temminck, 

 serve to confirm the existence of the species, and also to indi- 

 cate its extreme beauty. 



The general colours of this bird have been described only 

 after the Chinese figures, the inexactitude of which may be 

 judged by their representing the two long feathers which we 

 have mentioned, as tinted Avith blue and red, two colours not 

 to be found in them. 



M. Temminck conjectures that this pheasant has much 

 analogy with Phasianus Pictiis. He supposes its length to 

 exceed six feet. 



The Fire-hacked Pheasmit (Phasianus Ignitus), of which 

 our author makes his sub-genus Houppiferes, is placed by 

 M. Temminck at the end of the cocks. It must be confessed 

 that it has many relations with them. 



The first indication of this fine gallina is owing to Sir 

 George Staunton, who described it after an individual which was 

 offered to Lord Macartney, during his stay at Batavia. M. 

 Temminck has called it, after the name of that illustrious 

 nobleman, Houppifere Macartney. Its native country is the 

 interior of Sumatra, on the borders of the deep forests of that 

 island. 



It is distinguished from the cocks by the tuft of slender 

 feathers, forming the crest with which its head is adorned, by 

 the naked portions of the cheeks, and the different forms of 

 their carnosities ; and by the length of the tarsus, which is 

 more nervous and more robust than that of the cocks. The 

 male is two feet long, or more. A thick, naked, and violet- 

 coloured membrane, which seems to form a prolongation of 

 the nostrils, is directed over the whole extent of the sides of 

 the head, surrounds the eye, rises a few lines above the root 

 of the bill and the cranium, and forms a sort of lax mem- 



