14 



Fancy Pheasants. 



The cock's two centre tail-featliers aie also remarkable, 

 being over four feet long, very broad, and curiously 

 twisted at the end. He is much larger altogether than 

 the hen, but except for his huge wings and tail, and 

 special colour-ornamentation to he presently described, 

 does not differ much in general appearance, both sexes 

 having the plumage brown, thickly speckled with 

 buff, the. bare head blue, the bill white, and the 

 legs red, without spurs. 



The extraordinary and quite unique beauty of the 

 cock lies in his wings, which cannot Tse seen while they 

 are closed, for along each of the great secondary quills, 

 on the outer web close to the shaft, run a series of most 

 beautiful eyes or ocelli ; not brilliant like those on the 

 Peacock's train, but most perfectly shaded with ochre, 

 sienna, and white, and edged with black, so as to resem- 

 ble balls lj;ing in sockets, when the feather is in a ver- 

 tical position. Large as these feathers are, they are 

 very thin and delicate, so that, seen from behind, they 

 look like stained glass, and the ornaments are plainly 

 visible ; yet the webs are firm and well knit, and they 

 wear well. The flights, although not remarkable in 

 size or texture, are scarcely less beautiful ; their shafts 

 are dark blue, and parallel therewith on the inner web 

 runs a patch of rich cinnamon minutely dotted with 

 white, the feather being likewise adorned with rows of 

 black and cinnamon spots on its pale drab ground. 



This is by no means a full description of the plumage 

 of this wonderful bird, whose exquisite tinting and 

 shading will repay any amount of study, and need it to 

 be appreciated properly. The beauty of the Argus is, 

 indeed, chiefly in its shading ; it has no brilliant colour 

 at all, and the form of the male, with the long straight 

 line formed by his closed wings, is not altogether grace- 

 ful. But he reserves everytliing for his display, which 

 is indeed a wonderful sight. Before showing off, he gets 

 much excited ; I have seen his head literally swell, and 

 heard him stamp loudly on the ground in a manner un- 

 like any other bird. Then he raises and shakes his 

 wings, and then throws them forward and spreads them 

 till the front edges meet before his head, and they form 

 a great vertical fan, most beautifully painted. Mean- 

 while the tail is raised to complete the picture. 

 This hen seems supremely indifferent to a!ll this 

 fuss, but the cock is very much in earnest 

 about it, and anxious that she should have 

 a good front view ; while it is stated that 

 such is his anxiety to read her somewhat inexpres- 

 sive countenance, that he will often thrust his head — 

 which is, of course, right behind one wing — between two 

 of his wing-feathers, to look, thus keeping a place frayed 

 there ! 



When moulting, the r lale appears, from a specimen I 

 have long observed at the Calcutta Zoo, to cast off the 

 great ornamental secondaries almost at once, since they 

 grow again evenly. This specimen keeps himself in 

 Bne condition, and the feathers when cast are quite 

 worth keeping. 



Young cocks resemble the hen in this species, but 

 may be distinguished by showing traces of the " eyes" 

 on the wings. 



This bird is found wild from South Tenasseriin 

 through the Malay Peninsula and Siam, to Sumatra. 

 It inhabits evergreen forests, and is shy and solitary. 

 There appears to be no regular breeding season, and the 

 hens have no fixed abode. The cocks, however, have 

 very domesticated habits,- each bird clearing for himself 

 a space of a few yards square in the jungle, in which he 

 lives, merely going out for his meals of fallen fruit, 

 insects, etc. , and roosting at night on a tree close by. 

 Here he displays himself, presumably, to such hen birds 

 as may visit him ; not wandering about to fight with 

 other males, although he will answer their calls. His 

 note is a fine loud whoop of two notes, like " how-how," 

 and is audible at a great distance ; the female's call is 

 trisyllabic, and repeated faster and faster till the notes 

 run together. 



The Argus is not a common bird in captivity, and 1 

 should hardly have included it were it not so well known 



and so interesting a species. But it appears to thrive 

 well when it can be procured, and has repeatedly bred 

 in the London Zoo. It requires good protection from 

 the weather, however, not being so hardy as most 

 Pheasants. In disposition it is not shy or difficult to 

 tame ; a captured bird has been known to return to its 

 aviary after escaping. No doubt its sedentary habits in 

 the wild state account for this, and also for the fact 

 that, as the bird at Calcutta shows, it can keep in good 

 condition in a space only a few yards square. This 

 specimen is very vicious, and cannot be trusted even 

 with his hen constantly ; but I never saw him interfere 

 with other birds when kept with them. The hen Argus 

 is said to lay seven or eight eggs in the wild state ; eggs 

 laid by tame birds are said to be of a rich coffee-colour. 

 The young are able to fly and roost on a perch very 

 quickly. 



One other species of Argus (Argimanus grayi), closely 

 allied to the common one, is found in Borneo. Another 

 is suspected to exist, from a portion of a flight-feather, 

 formerly possessed by Mr. E. Bartlett, who showed it to 

 me when he was Curator of the Maidstone Museum. 

 This feather was presented by Mr. Bartlett to the 

 British Museum ; it differs from that of an ordinary 

 cock Argus in having the white-spotted cinnamon patch 

 on both sides of the shaft. Hence it has been called 

 Argfusianusbipunetat-us, the two-spotted Argus. Noother 

 specimen has turned up, and it is just possible that this 

 one belonged to a bird which was merely a " sport " ; 

 but the fact that the shaft of this feather differs in being 

 nai rower and thinner than that of the ordinary species 

 makes this explanation doubtful. It must be remem- 

 bered, however, that birds may throw varieties in colour 

 and structural points at the same time, though this is 

 rare; thus, a light- brown variety of the Moorhen some- 

 times occurs, which has hairy-looking plumage and soft 

 lax webs to the quills, so that it cannot fly. 



The Grey Peacock-Pheasant. 



(Polyphctron chinquis. ) 



The Peacock-Pheasants are rather small, lightly built 

 birds, the male of the present species, which is the 

 largest, being hardly as big as the hen of the common 

 Pheasant. They have erect crests and long, broad, 

 rounded tails ; and the males have two or three spurs 

 on each leg, whence theu- scientific name, Polyplectron; 

 meaning " many-spurred." The grey Peacock-Pheasant 

 is drab, finely speckled with cream colour, this produc- 

 ing a grey effect at a distance; the ^vings, back, and 

 tail are ornamented with beautiful metallic " eyes " of 

 green shot with violet, so exquisitely shaded that they 

 seem to stand out from the surface of the feather. This 

 applies to the male only ; the ben, which is smallei' and 

 has a shorter tail and crest, though very similar in 

 general colouring, has the " eyes " replaced by simple 

 blackish spots only slightly glossed. Young cocks re- 

 semble her, hut show more approach to the eye-spots 

 of the old birds of their sex. In all, the throat 

 is white. The bill and legs are dark, and a bare space 

 round the eye pale, sickly yellow, a hue which is not 

 enhanced by the white eyes of the cock ; the hen's eyes 

 are dark grey. 



This bird is found in a wild state from the Assam hills 

 through Burma to Siam. It frequents thick jungle, and 

 is little known, being more often, heard than seen. The 

 cock has a most irritating barking cackle, which he is 

 far too fond of repeating at times. These birds have 

 bred in the London Zoo ; in captivity they pair, and the 

 hen lays only two eggs, of a buft' colour. The first 

 young hatched were reared by a Bantam hen, and it 

 was noticed that they kept constantly behind her, po 

 that they got a full share of kicks when she was scratch- 

 ing the ground. Their reason for this apparently foolish 

 behaviour was not understood till a brood was reared by 

 the Peacock-Pheasant herself, who was obsei-ved to 

 spread her tail as a shelter for the chicks, which followed 

 her beneath it, only running forward when she found 



