90 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



outer primary, which is as yet unshed, shows considerable buff mottling on the outer 

 web, which is absent from the other nine new ones. Of especial interest are the ist and 

 2nd secondaries, which are unshed and quite unlike the others. These new ones are of 

 the usual pale buff, thickly spotted with black, but the old, first-year ones are dark brown, 

 with seven or eight transverse rufous bands on the outer web, and some mottling of the 

 same colour toward the extremity of the inner web. 



A number of shorter upper tail-coverts still unshed show a rather confused mottling 

 of rufous buff, with several large, irregular, dark interspaces, instead of the succeeding 

 evenly barred pattern. The old back and rump feathers are vermiculated thickly and 

 finely, instead of being marked with the dense, more or less regular, spotting. The 

 forehead is chiefly black and white, with but little green iridescence. 



Length of adult male, about 500 mm.; culmen from nostril, 13; wing, 200; tail, 

 190; tarsus, 68; middle toe and claw, 45 mm. The spurs, usually four in number, are 

 not long, often only 10 mm. in length. 



Adult Female. — The bird very closely resembles malaccensis, and even the usually 

 quoted distinction of the lack of ocelli on the longer upper tail-coverts does not hold 

 good, as in a number of specimens I have found them well developed. 



The gloss on the dorsal ocelli, in the fully adult bird, is considerably greater than in 

 malaccensis. 



The top of the head and hind neck is ashy brown, paling on the side head and neck 

 into the pure white of the throat and chin. The white feathers of the lower cheeks 

 bounding the bare facial area are white margined with dark, and the ear-coverts are dark 

 slaty brown. The upper neck and entire under parts are olive brown finely vermiculated 

 with dark brown, the ventral surface being considerably darker than in malaccensis, 

 and indeed the belly and lower sides show but little vermiculation, being almost solid 

 brownish black. 



The ocelli of black pigment on the mantle and wings are large, and a considerable 

 portion of the central half of each ocellus is highly iridescent. Each ocellus is almost 

 surrounded by a more or less distinct ring of pale buff, which, distally, sends irregular 

 prolongations into the disk itself. As usual, the ocelli die out upon the middle 

 secondaries, leaving only the buff freckling on the outer webs, the primaries being quite 

 clear brown. 



The females in first-year plumage always lack the twin ocelli on the long tail- 

 coverts, the place of the eye-spots being taken by a subterminal black band flanked by 

 one of buff, but in the fully adult bird the black band is very often divided into two 

 rounded ocelli, as strongly glossed with green as any on the mantle or wings. 



The rectrices show numerous well-marked cross-bands of mottled buff with two 

 well-developed ocelli on the central rectrices. Unlike malaccejtsis, the inner ocellus 

 dies out slowly, as we pass toward the outer pair, retaining traces of the green gloss for 

 the succeeding three pairs of feathers, then changing to a clear, dark space, sharply 

 demarcated by buff lines, this character extending to the very outer pair. The under 

 tail-coverts are blackish with a terminal buff band of broken spots. 



Length of adult female, 410 mm.; bill from nostril, 11; wing, 180; tail, 180; 

 tarsus, 60 ; middle toe and claw, 40 mm. Spurs absent. 



