THE GREY PEACOCK PHEASANT 71 



In birds in the same moult, but which shed their juvenile plumage at a somewhat 

 later stage, well-marked variations occur. The barring of the body plumage as a whole 

 is less olive, more of a colder grey. The violet iridescence is more strongly developed, 

 the terminal white bars more coalesced, and, most important, the row of longest upper 

 tail-coverts often show the twin ocelli as well developed as the rectrices. The chin and 

 throat are distinctly whiter, and the spurs are well-elevated, rounded knobs. 



A few months after this plumage has been assumed, if one or more feathers are 

 pulled out they will be replaced by others of full adult colour and pattern. In one 

 young bird which I shot, five of these adventitious feathers had taken the place of some 

 torn away by accident from the centre of the hinder mantle. In development of the 

 brilliant, violet, convex ocelli, they equalled those of the fully adult bird, in striking 

 contrast with the surrounding eye-spots of dull black pigment. 



The tail-feathers of this moult number twenty. The most interesting thing is that 

 the amount of variation is exactly that of adult females, even to the presence or absence 

 of ocelli on the long upper tail-coverts. The iris is hazel, the face pale yellow. Male 

 birds of this age average 90 mm. in length of wing ; tail, 230 to 290 ; tarsus, 65 ; 

 middle toe and claw, 50 mm. 



One of the most marked changes from juvenile to adult is the loss of the dotted 

 transverse barring and the acquisition of an even dotting or speckling over the entire 

 web. The female of the first year is hardly distinguishable from the fully adult bird. 



Second Year Male. — In most birds of this age there are well-marked characters 

 separating them from older individuals. Such are : the small size of the spurs ; less grey 

 on the head and the more impure white of the throat ; smaller and darker ocelli, and 

 with the rectrice markings more mottled, less white and clearly defined. 



EARLY HISTORY 



In the 1758 or tenth edition of his *' Systema Naturae," Linnaeus gives the following : 



Pavo bicalcaratus. 



P. capite laevi, calcaribus duobus. 



Phasianus pavonicus chinensis. Edw. av. 6^ t. 6^] et t. 69, f, i. 



Habitat in China. 



Pennae verticis revolutae. Pennae posterioris dorsi longae ocellis pavoninis indicant hoc genus. 



The reference is to George Edward's "A Natural History of Birds," Part II, 

 published eleven years previously, in 1747. In Plates 67 and 69 we have comparatively 

 good representations of Peacock Pheasants, with two well-marked ocelli on each of the 

 tail-feathers. Plate 67 was drawn in 1745. In addition to this pictorial proof, Edwards 

 states in his description on page 67 : " Each feather of the tail hath two beautiful eyes 

 toward their tips, one on each side the shafts of the feathers ; so that they stand in 

 pairs. ..." More conclusive proof than this it would be difficult to adduce, that the 

 bird intended is that from the Indo-Chinese countries, and not from the Malay 

 Peninsula, but throughout the succeeding one hundred and forty-four years no one 

 seemed to realize that this was the case. Hartert ('* Novitates Zoologicae," IX. 1902, 

 PP- 53S) 539) then called attention to the error. Linnaeus himself clearly indicates 

 what bird he intended in his twelfth edition of 1766, where he adds to his quotations 



