464 THE ARGUS PHEASANT. 



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 with 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 about them. 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 color 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 1 ' are 

 faintly indicated in neutral tint. 



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

 linaceous 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-colored spots. It probably inhabits Soudan and 

 the Moluccas, but there is little known of its habits. 



The beautiful crest which adorns the head is very deep shining violet-blue, and the head, 

 neck, and breast, are of the same color. 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 with velvety-black. The tail is 

 brown, covered with innumerable little spots of yellowish-white, 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 abdomen is dull black. In total 

 length, this bird measures about twenty inches. 



The Pheasants comes next in order, and the grandest and most imposing of this group, 

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

 so called in remembrance of the ill-fated Argus of mythology, whose hundred eyes never slept 

 simultaneously until charmed by the magic lyre of Mercury. 



This magnificent bird is remarkable for the very great length of its tail-feathers and the 

 extraordinary development of the secondary feathers of the wings. While walking on the 

 ground, or sitting on a bough, the singular length of the feathers is not very striking, but when 

 the bird spreads its wings, showing the full expanse of the secondaries, they come out in 

 all their beauty. As might be supposed from the general arrangement of the plumage, the 

 bird is by no means a good fiier, and when it takes to the air, only flies for a short distance. 

 In running its wings are said to be efficient aids. 



Although the Argus is hardly larger than an ordinary fowl, the plumage is so greatly 

 developed that its total length measures more than five feet. The head and back of the neck 

 are covered with short brown feathers, and the neck and upper part of the breast are warm 

 chestnut-brown covered witli spots of yellow and black, and similar tints are formed on the 

 back. The tail is deep chestnut covered with white spots, each spot being surrounded with a 

 black ring. When the bird chooses, it can raise the tail, so that it stands boldly in the air 

 between the wings and is partially spread. The secondaries of the wings are most wonderful 

 examples of plumage, and would require many pages to describe them fully. Suffice it to say 

 that the gradations of jetty-black, deep rich brown, orange, fawn, olive and white are so justly 

 and boldly arranged ;is to form admirable studies for the artist, and totally to baffle description. 



In one feather now before me there are seventeen large "eyes" on the outer web, each 

 being surrounded with a ring of jetty-black, then with a dash of chocolate within the ring, 

 then olive with the least possible tinge of purple, and lastly with a spot of pure white near 

 the tip, fading imperceptibly into the olive on one side and the chocolate on the other. 



