GREEN PEAFOWL i99 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male.— Most of the face is bare of feathers and brightly coloured. The 

 blue forms a broad zone around the eye, beginning as bluish white immediately below 

 the nostrils and extending backward above and below the greenish lores, and completely 

 around the eyes. 



The lower part of the face, cheeks and side head are chrome yellow, bordering the 

 blue area below and posteriorly, and completely encircling the ear openings. The bill is 

 dark brownish horn colour, palest at base, the iris rich brownish hazel. A tall crest, 

 slanted slightly forward, rises from the crown, composed of stiff, straight feathers, yaned 

 narrowly but completly to their bases. 



The top of the head, from the forehead to the nape, the lores, chin and throat are 

 bright metallic bluish green, shot with purplish and steel blue. Neck, upper breast and 

 mantle golden bronze, with the centres of the feathers deep purple or purplish blue, 

 bordered with green. These blue centres are concealed on the neck, but appear on the 

 back, where they alter the entire pattern, and here the feathers are fringed with greenish 

 black. The remainder of the back is glistening emerald green, with centres of bronze 

 and fringes of black. 



The breast feathers are bronze, with centres of green, and showing bluish-green 

 fringes ; the rest of the ventral surface becoming dull green, fading to brownish black on 

 the mid-abdomen and under tail-coverts. The lesser wing-coverts are bronze green, with 

 typically blue centres and black margins. Median coverts metallic blue green, changing 

 to coppery bronze on the innermost ones. Greater coverts and primaries chestnut with 

 darker shafts and tips ; the secondaries dark brown, but showing an approximation to 

 the body colours in a metallic green sheen on the visible portions. Tail feathers dark 

 brown, sometimes almost black, mottled irregularly with lighter along the quills. The 

 enormous upper tail-coverts which compose the train are in general similar to those 

 of the Indian Peacock. Legs and feet greyish black. Dimensions: Length, exclusive 

 of train, 950 to 1,180 mm.; total length, 1,600 to 2,000, with one record of 2,250; 

 expanse, about 1,400 ; bill from nostril, 19 ; wing, 418 to 478; tail, 375 to 444 ; tarsus, 

 125 to 149 ; middle toe and claw, 84 mm. Weight, 8 to lof lbs. 



Adult Female. — Resembles the male in many ways, but completely lacks the 

 elongated train, and has the entire back and rump brownish black, barred irregularly 

 and mottled with buff. On the mantle there is often a sheen of metallic green. The 

 bronze colour and the black fringes of the ventral plumage are less clear and distinct 

 than in the male, while the flight feathers and greater coverts are usually mottled on the 

 outer webs. The upper tail-coverts do not project beyond the tail and are mottled with 

 brown. The tail itself is dark brown with paler bars. The female averages a little 

 smaller in general dimensions than the male. The eye is dark hazel, and the facial 

 colours are less brilliant than in the cock, the blue and the yellow being less sharply 

 defined. The bill is paler, and the legs and feet greyish black. 



Young Male. — The plumage is very similar to that of the adult female, but the 

 lower back feathers are distinctly greenish bronze, and the short upper tail-coverts are 



