PALAWAN PEACOCK PHEASANT 



Polyplectron napoleonis Lesson 



Names. — Specific : napoleonis, dedicated to the Emperor Napoleon. English : Napoleon's or Palawan 

 Peacock Pheasant. Native : Sulu Malak ; Dusan Bertik. 



Type. — Locality: de I'lnde. Describer: Lesson. Place of Description: Traite d'Orn. 1831, pp. 487, 

 650. Location of Type : Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 



Brief Description. — Male : Crown and long, hairy crest shining bottle green ; mantle and wings rich 

 blue, bordered with green; back and tail black, mottled with rufous buff; the longest tail-coverts and tail-feathers 

 with a pair of green ocelli framed in black and grey, the inner ocellus disappearing on the outer rectrices. Cheek 

 patch white. Face, throat and under-parts black. Some males have white superciliary lines confluent on the 

 nape. Female : Long, thin-vaned, dark brownish crest. Upper parts rufous-brown mottled with black ; mantle 

 and wing-coverts with a faint terminal band of rufous-brown ; ocelli abortive on tail coverts, and less perfectly 

 developed on the tail than in the male. Face, superciliary, nuchal lines, and throat white. Under-parts reddish- 

 brown faintly mottled with black. 



Range. — The island of Palawan, Philippines. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



I DID not visit Palawan, and so made no observations on this species in its haunts. 

 Mr. J. Whitehead has trapped this bird and gives us the following notes : " This 

 splendid little pheasant is scarce and local, all my specimens having been collected in 

 one forest, and although my men set hundreds of snares in other forests we never met 

 with another during three months. One female was eaten by a wild cat in one of the 

 traps, and I rather expect this little tiger destroys numbers of this beautiful bird. 



''This species, like the argus pheasant, has its 'showing off' arena, a neatly-swept 

 patch some three or four feet in diameter; the chosen spot is generally in some 

 unfrequented part of the forest. I often noticed that this ring had a small hump of 

 earth in the middle, where no doubt the male birds show off their splendid plumage 

 and perhaps do battle. Their battles, if they have any, must be very short and 

 decisive, as the double spurs of the cock would be sufficient to cut his adversary 

 into bits. 



"I am inclined to think that the birds pair and are not polygamous, as we 

 collected three pairs ; but that was not during the nesting season, which is probably 

 in the months of December and January." 



In spite of the author's account of the showing-off place, I am inclined to think 

 he is mistaken. I have watched other species of Peacock Pheasants, both wild and 

 in captivity, and have never observed anything of the kind. There is no native legend 

 or knowledge of any of these birds forming a dancing ground, while the habit of the 

 Argus is widely known among the savage tribes of the Malay States, Sumatra and 

 Borneo. Mr. Whitehead does not support his statement by saying what its 



foundation was. If he had found the feathers of these birds in such an arena or 



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