138 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



female. And this indeed only on the sides and flanks, the mid-breast and abdomen 

 feathers being wholly black or with two small lateral spots of chestnut. Thighs and 

 under tail-coverts dull black, glossed with greenish-blue on the terminal portion of the 

 feathers. 



Irides red ; legs and feet in the breeding season reddish, fading at other times 

 to a fleshy pink ; facial skin bright blue at the period of courtship, considerably paler 

 during the rest of the year ; mandibles horny white ; spurs and claws yellowish horn. 

 The spurs are unusually strong, long and slightly curved, reaching a length of 35 mm. 

 or more. Weight about 4^ lbs. Length, 650; extent, 845; bill from nostril, 21; 

 wing, 271 ; tail, 253; tarsus, in ; middle toe and claw, 58 mm. 



Variation in Male Plumage. — To show the variability of even a single character 

 in birds supposed to be sufficiently homogeneous and distinct to form a esparate species, 

 let us consider the white colour of the tail-feathers of the males upon which Bllttikofer 

 bases his sumatrana. 



His specific characterization is ''Similar in colour to L. ignita, with the exception 

 of the centre tail-feathers, which are pure white, with a faint ochrous tinge on the basal 

 part as far as it is hidden by the upper tail-coverts" (''Notes from Leyden Museum," 



xvn. 1895, p- 178). 



{a) Leyden Museum specimen. — Central pair of rectrices and inner web of second pair white. — No locality. 



\b) Leyden Museum specimen. — Two central pairs of rectrices and inner web of third pair white. — Palembang, 

 Sumatra. 



{c) An "albinisme" male from Amsterdam Zoological Garden. — No mention of white on tail-feathers. 



{d) Type male in Brussels Museum. — Dubois describes the tail colour as follows : *' Queue noire, les quatre 

 rectrices medianes d'un blanc roussatre, la barbe interne de la paire suivante egalement d'un blanc 

 roussatre " (" Bull. Ag. Belg." (2) XLVIL, p. 825). The ochraceous hue of the basal concealed portion 

 of the feathers is so pronounced that Dubois considers the whiter exposed area has been faded out 

 to its present colour. 



{e) Vienna Museum specimen. — Said to agree with the two Leyden specimens, which, as they differ in the 

 amount of rectrice white, is obviously impossible. 



(/■) British Museum specimen. — This much-described individual (Sclater, " Proc. Zool. Soc," 1863, p. 119; 

 Grant, "Brit. Mus. Cat Birds," XXII. 1893, p. 289; Grant, "Hand-book Game-birds," 1895, p. 247) 

 is classified by Biittikofer under his sumatrana. Of the white in the tail Sclater says, " rectr. 4 mediis 

 albis " ; Grant, " middle pair of tail-feathers white," but both are wrong, for as the inner and third 

 pairs are white and the second pair is missing, the inner three pairs of rectrices were undoubtedly 

 originally of this colour. The other character of red upon the flanks seems to be almost as variable 

 and from the fact that in this British Museum specimen the golden hue of the sides is almost white 

 on the anterior portion, I should be inclined to think that the " albinisme " of specimen c was but an 

 extreme aberration due to hybridism or abnormal variation. 



Adult Female. — Entire upper surface, neck all around and breast chestnut, the 

 fore-neck and occasionally the hind neck and upper mantle with white lateral margins 

 to the feathers. Crest with terminal plumes as in the male, but with much shorter bare 

 basal shafts, and slightly darker chestnut than the head. Short feathers of the head 

 and upper neck, chin and throat somewhat recurved. The chin and throat are white. 

 From the rear mantle and wing-coverts backward there is a constantly increasing 

 mottling and vermiculation of black pigment, causing the chestnut to appear darker 

 and darker as we proceed toward the tail. On the outer webs of the secondaries and 

 primaries, and on the shorter and median upper tail-coverts, the chestnut and black are 

 of about equal proportions. The inner webs of the flight feathers are dark brown, 



