ANNAM OCELLATED PHEASANT 105 



The rufous buff of the fore-neck changes abruptly into the body pattern. The 

 ventral plumage differs chiefly from the dorsal in the much greater amount of chestnut 

 and the relatively coarser spotting. For example, a mid-breast or belly feather shows 

 but one or two lines of white spots on each web, each spot with a narrow encircling ring 

 of black, while all the rest of the feather is plain chestnut. 



Bill to nostril, 18 mm.; wing, 380; outer tail-feather, 280; central tail-feather, 

 1500 ; tarsus, 91 ; middle toe and claw, 76 mm. 



Adult Female. — Forehead and crown black, becoming brown on the elongated, 

 stiffened, occipital crest, this again changing to greyish white and dull rufous posteriorly. 

 Lores, superciliary, side of rear crown, chin and upper throat dingy, buffy-white. 



The mantle is almost monochrome, olive buff faintly vermiculated with dark brown. 

 On the lower mantle, wide, irregular cross-bands begin to be noticeable, becoming more 

 and more distinct as we proceed backward over the wings and tail. 



On the black background we find successive buff cross-bars, basally broken into 

 spots and angulated short lines, merging at once and becoming a fine vermiculation, 

 which is lost in the black hue in a mist of buff mottling. This forms a band, which on 

 the secondaries is about 12 mm. wide, and bounded on each side by a clear, black inter- 

 space of half this width. On the outer secondaries the black space becomes almost 

 obliterated by the extension of the spots and angulated lines. The markings on the 

 primaries are decidedly rufous, and are in the form of broken bars on the inner webs, 

 and an irregular network on the outer. 



The central rectrices show an extreme development of the paler transverse bars, the 

 colour being an olive buff, and the angulated lines beginning almost as soon as the 

 mottling of the succeeding bar has died away. On the lateral rectrices the black becomes 

 more and more predominant. The lower throat shows an area of dark rufous. The 

 ventral surface is like the mantle, olive buff, very finely vermiculated with black. 



Bill from nostril, 17 mm.; wing, 320; outer tail-feather, 235; central tail-feather, 

 400 ; tarsus, 81 ; middle toe and claw, 66 mm. 



SYNONYMY 



Ai'gusanus ocellatus Verreaux MS.; Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus, XLIL 1856, p. 878 [desc. null.]. 



Argus ocellatus Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863, p. 124 [desc. null.] ; Gray, List Gallinae, 1867, p. 26 

 [desc. null.]; Elliot, Ann. Mag. Nat. His. (4) VIIL 1871, p. 119 [first description of the four feathers]; Wood, 

 Ann. Mag. Nat. His. (4) X. 1872, p. 67 ; Elliot, Monograph Phasianidae, I. 1872, pi. 13. 



Rheinardia ocellata Maingonnat, La Science pour tous, 1882, p. 210. 



Rheinardius ocellatus Oustalet, Annales des Sci. Nat. XHL 1882, art. 12 ; Oustalet, Bull. Soc. Philomathique 

 (7) VL 1882, p. 254 {Rheinardius, nov. gen.]; Oustalet, La Nature, 1882, p. 273 ; Sharpe, Hand-list of Birds, L 

 1899, P- 40. 



Argus Rheinardi Maingonnat, Bull. Soc. Zool. de France, VIL 1882, p. xxv. 



Rheinartius ocellatus Oustalet, Nouv. Arc. Mus. Hist. Nat. (2) VHI. 1885, p. 256, pi. 11 ; d'Aubusson, Bull. 

 Soc. d'Acclim. 1887, pp. 337, 430. 



Rheinardtius ocellatus Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XXH. 1893, P- 3^7; Grant, Hand-book of Game-birds, 

 n. 1897, p. 75 ; Finn, Game-birds of India and Asia, 1911, p. 44; zur Strasser, Brehms Tierleben, 4th edition, 

 Vogel, H. Band, 191 1, p. 53. 



Rheinardius ocellatus ocellatus Hartert, Novitates Zoologicae, IX. 1902, p. 538. 



VOL. IV 



