264 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



the wattle is almost completely hidden except for a portion of the anterior red. When 

 courting or preparing to fight, or when the head is stretched out for any reason, the full 

 glory of pigmentation of the wattle excels even that of the comb. Beginning at the 

 lowest fold of the small facial, sub-auricular wattles, a band of intensely brilliant chrome 

 yellow extends downward, gradually widening, to beyond the attached end of the wattle 

 and almost to the posterior free end. The remainder of this organ, the lower outer 

 portion, is a rich azure blue, sometimes with a hint of greenish. The relation of the 

 three colours to one another is interesting, and also the character of the skin itself in the 

 respective zones of pigmentation. The yellow is abruptly marked off from the other two 

 colours, while the red and the blue show a considerable area of gradual transition, a 

 violet which appears darker than either colour. The yellow area is the most folded and 

 creased, the lines being transverse, longitudinal and diagonal, forming a complex 

 network. The red hardly shows its rather longitudinal wrinkling, while the blue is 

 conspicuously marked with dark wrinkles running at right angles to the edge of the 

 wattle. In fully adult birds the face and entire wattle are free of feathering, the last 

 traces being a small patch of black featherlets on the throat and wattle in the red area 

 close to the yellow. 



Iris lemon, orange or pale straw yellow. Mandibles usually pale horn-colour. The 

 base of the upper mandible may be black or dark reddish and the whole under mandible 

 yellowish or ivory horn. Legs and feet varying from fleshy pink in the breeding season, 

 to quite pale whitish. Or the posterior half of the tarsus, the toes and the spurs may be 

 dark brown. 



Length, 700 mm.; bill from nostril, 16; wing, 225; tail, 325; tarsus, 73; middle 

 toe and claw, 60 ; spurs, slender and curved, about 25 mm. in length. Weight, 

 I lb. 12 ozs. 



Adult Female. — Top of the head, neck and upper mantle sandy brown, the latter 

 feathers with a wide, black, sub-marginal, concentric band, enclosing an area of rather 

 rufous tone. The remaining upper plumage and the smaller coverts are black with buff 

 edges and an irregular transverse band of rufous buff, many of the feathers with a 

 hair-like, white shaft-streak. Much of the black, especially on the scapulars and wing- 

 coverts, is glossed with iridescent green. Secondaries brownish black, barred on the 

 outer webs with buffy white. Primaries and alula plain dull brown. Tail-feathers 

 brownish black, with a few irregular marginal spots of buff, separated with dark areas 

 indistinctly glossed with greenish. 



Lores, broad superciliary stripes and the rather scanty feathering on the sides of the 

 face pale buff; chin and throat white. Ventral plumage brownish buff, the breast 

 feathers margined with dark brown, and the feathers in general sparsely and irregularly 

 mottled with the same colour, especially on the sides and flanks, where the dark colour 

 forms irregular bars. 



Iris pale straw yellow. Skin of the face as showing through the sparse feathering, 

 and the small comb reddish pink. Throat fully feathered, but a low, permanent fold of 

 skin represents the wattle of the adult cock. Legs pale flesh colour. 



Length, 400 mm.; bill from nostril, 15; wing, 195; tail, 115; tarsus, 58; middle 

 toe and claw, 48 ; spurs rudimentary. Weight, i lb. to i lb. 4 ozs. 



