HIMALAYAN IMPEYAN PHEASANT 141 



dominated by the loose, fluffy basal down, giving the appearance 

 of half the normal number of feathers of this area having been 

 lost. No such scanty, abortive metallic colouring occurs on any 

 normal plumage of which I have knowledge. In typical white- 

 backed individuals a small amount of metallic colour some- 

 times persists on all the white feathers. 



In the presence or absence of the copper collar and the extent of the green mantle 

 there is as great variation as in the above-mentioned characters. 



As regards mantoui, the type in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes does, indeed, 

 show the character of the ''black underparts slightly glossed with green," but so also do 

 many xvoxm.2X impeyanus when examined with the light coming from behind the observer. 

 The throat has less green than is usual in normal birds. Hence the only differentiating 

 character is the changed colour of the hind neck, nape and mantle. The normal copper 

 of the nape and side neck is reduced and impure, the dominant hue of these parts being 

 purple shot with copper. The mantle, as defined by a zone of solid colour, is of greater 

 extent than usual, and wholly purple like the normal inner wing-coverts. Posterior to 

 the mantle there is less purple in the plumage than usual. Several other so-called 

 mantoui individuals at Tring and elsewhere show all gradations. Some have the typical 

 mantle and not a trace of ventral green ; in others the mantle is partly normal green, 

 part .purple and blue. 



The variation to which the name obscura has been given is a melanistic phase, 

 the wing and tail-coverts showing the greatest amount of iridescence, chiefly greenish, 

 while the mantle is dead brownish black, almost unglossed, so that the general effect 

 is of a bird once brilliant, but greatly faded. One individual wild shot Impeyan 

 which I have examined, combines the characters of all these varieties with the additional 

 one of having the rectrices wholly black, glossed with greenish blue. There is thus 

 no ground for the recognition of these forms as other than extremely interesting 

 variations occurring in a state of nature. 



Adult Female. — General ground colour of head and upper plumage dark brownish 

 black with very warm buff margins, and increasingly complex markings from the crown 

 backward. On the forehead and crown there is a warm buff shaft-stripe. The feathers 

 of the mid and hind crown are quite broad and lengthened into a short crest. On the 

 occiput and nape a dark basal shaft-streak pushes its way up, gradually splitting the buff 

 in two. On the mantle a pale buff shaft-streak appears in turn, dividing the preceding 

 dark one, and on the rear mantle and wing-coverts the buff markings assume a rufous 

 tinge and spread over the entire feather, forming wide, wavy, crossbands. On the 

 larger wing-coverts and inner secondaries the tips of the feathers show considerable grey. 

 The secondaries are brownish black, with a warm grey terminal border and a number 

 of irregular rufous crossbars. The primaries are slightly mottled with rufous buff on 

 the outer web. The mid and lower back, corresponding to the white patch of the male, 

 are warm buff sparsely dotted with dark brown. The rump shows much solid dark colour 

 and the tail-coverts are broadly tipped with white. Tail feathers dark brown, strongly 

 barred with rufous and tipped with a conspicuous but narrow band of white. The black 



