174 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



of the feathers is composed of a pure-white, loose-barbed fringe. At the same level 

 on the back the metallic golden fringe becomes abruptly flecked with white, and almost 

 at once merges into the two lateral zones of pure white. The entire lower back and 

 rump are unmarked, glistening, silky white. 



The upper tail-coverts are pale chestnut with a rather narrow terminal band of 

 white. Tail as in typical soemmerringi, as are also the facial area and the colours of the 

 soft parts. 



Bill from nostril, i6 mm. : wing, 215 to 235; tail, 825 to 900; tarsus, 64; middle 

 toe and claw, 61. Length of spur, 8 to 11 mm. 



VARIATIONS OF ADULT MALES 



No two birds are exactly alike, although even the greatest extremes show sufficient 

 characters in common to be recognized as sub-specific. 



Lower back mid rmnp : The massed, more or less solid white of this portion of the 

 plumage is the chief ijimae character, and it shows the greatest variation. From the 

 extreme posterior rump, up along the sides to the very axillaries, the visible part of 

 the feathers may be solid white, and along the mid-dorsal line I have seen an individual 

 with traces of the white tinging the metallic copper up to the nape itself, covering a zone 

 of over 200 mm. in length. This may be divided as follows, beginning at the rump and 

 ending at the neck : pure white zone, 50 mm. ; white dominant, 26 ; half and half, 75 ; 

 copper dominant, 50. 



The method of transition or of appearance of the white is of interest. On the 

 scapulars and mantle one occasionally sees adventitious isolated round white dots. But 

 on the back the first hints of white are always in the form of two lateral, subterminal, 

 round spots, which soon coalesce along the shaft and gradually spread over the whole 

 visible area, the basal chestnut and black being always present. Posteriorly, however, 

 the black becomes dominant, and on the rump feathers of extremely marked individuals 

 little remains of the chestnut but a narrow, irregular shaft-stripe. The transition from 

 gold to white is usually clean and abrupt, very rarely by a fine mottling which gives a 

 stained appearance of yellowish buff. 



One bird which I obtained in Kagoshima had the white confined to the posterior 

 35 mm. of the rump, but it was very clear-cut, and the remainder of the plumage was 

 very dark chestnut, setting it distinctly apart from scintillans. 



Upper tail-coverts : The white edges vary from 2 to 6 mm. in width. These 

 feathers, though quite short, always show a considerable amount of wear. 



Central tail-feathers : The individuals with less white on the dorsal surface have 

 central tail-feathers which approximate those of soemmerringi, while the more extremely 

 marked ijimae have paler chestnut zones just anterior to the black cross-bars, never, 

 however, as pale as in extreme scintillans. 



Belly: Usually no white margins are present; occasionally there are pale or 

 whitish margins to the lateral feathers, and very rarely on all the posterior ventral 

 plumage. 



Adult Female. — The only persistent characters I have observed are that Ijimae 

 is in general more buffy, less white than in scintillans, with the various colours less 



