i82 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



between them. The only sound I have heard them make, and which I can with certainty 

 attribute to them, is a low, grunting call, exactly the same as that made by the Burmese 

 pheasant, a bird I knew well in the south-east of these hills." 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male.— Crown olive brown, the edges slightly glossed with green, chin and 

 upper throat black ; neck, upper breast and upper back jet black, with broad, steel-blue 

 edges, the black concealed except where the feathers are disturbed. In fully adult birds the 

 blue is irregularly continued down as far as the rump in even diluted amount ; inter- 

 scapulars and back broadly edged with glowing copper ; lower back and rump steel blue, 

 paler than that of the upper back, each feather with white edges and a white bar ; upper 

 tail-coverts grey, slightly vermiculated with white and with an obscure, broken central 

 bar ; tail similar, with bars of black, mottled with chestnut on the central rectrices, and a 

 wide, sub-terminal bar on the four outer pairs, increasing in width toward the outermost. 

 Several of the outer rectrices are mottled white at the tip. Medium wing-coverts like 

 the back, with a broad, steel-blue bar, lesser coverts similar, with a broad band of white 

 bordering the blue ; greater coverts chestnut, with broad white tips and a bluish 

 subterminal band ; primaries brown, edged with chestnut, secondaries wholly chestnut 

 on the exposed outer webs, tertiaries like greater coverts ; lower breast similar to the 

 upper back, changing gradually into deep chestnut on the abdomen and flanks ; thighs 

 and centre of abdomen mottled brown, under tail-coverts black, slightly glossed with 

 bluish. 



Facial skin scarlet ; iris, orange ; mandibles, greenish horn, lighter toward the tip ; 

 legs and feet brownish. Length 900; bill, from nostril, 20; wing, 217; tail, 530; 

 tarsus, 63, middle toe and claw, 52 mm. 



Adult Female. — Crown reddish brown, the middle feathers with small black 

 centres, the sides of the crown, lores and chin feathers mottled with darker ; neck above 

 and on the side sandy brown, faintly barred with blackish ; upper back and scapulars 

 similar, with wide, jet-black edges and bars, and a white, arrow-shaped shaft mark on 

 each feather; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts mottled sandy brown, with 

 irregular black centres and white markings, especially on the posterior plumage. 

 Central rectrices sandy brown, with faint, irregular, mottled, dark-brown bars ; outer 

 rectrices chestnut, with black bars and broad white tips ; the breast is pale sandy brown, 

 with a mottling of black spots ; lower breast and flanks more rufous, barred with pale 

 grey ; under tail-coverts mottled sandy and brown, the longest feathers chestnut, like 

 the outer rectrices, with white tips and black bars ; wing feathers and coverts mottled 

 grey on the visible portions, varying to sandy with well-defined black marks, and faint, 

 narrow, whitish edges to the medium and greater coverts ; primaries mottled brown, 

 with pale sandy bars on the outer webs. 



Facial skin scarlet ; iris pale yellowish ; mandibles dull horny, paler toward tips ; 

 legs and feet brownish grey. Length 600; culmen from nostril, 18; wing, 210; 

 tail, 250 ; tarsus, 60 ; middle toe and claw, 48 mm. 



