AEGUSIANUS. 71 



13. Polyplectrum bicalcaratum. The Malayan Pea-Phbabant. 



Calcar, ans= a spur. 



Quon-chermin (Malay). ^ 



^ 20 J". S 18". Legs dusky. Bill blackish. Spots hair-brown on buff 

 ground. Orbital space red. (S.F. i. 36. H. & M. i. 114.) Male: Violet crest. 

 Only mid-tail and longer upper tail-coverts with pairs of ocelli, confluent and 

 not divided. Outer tail-feathers v^ith only one ocellus on outer web. — Female : 

 Feathers of mantle and wings with black blotch near tip. Mid-tail with paired 

 ocelli ; no ocelli on outer tail. Kange from Malay Peninsula and Sumatra to 

 S. Tenasserim. (O.G. ii. 65.) 



P. schleiermacheri. ij 20". 9 14". The Bornean P.P., allied to P. iicofcara^um, but feathers 

 on sides of neck and chest with heart-shaped metallic spots of golden green. — Female: Ko ocelli 

 on longer upper tail-coverts. 



P. napoleonis. 6 19". ? 14J". Elongate crest dark green. Longer upper tail-coverts 

 and tail with pair of bluish gieen ocelli, each framed in a black and grey ring. White triangular 

 patch on each side of head. — Female: Crest well developed. No ocelli on long upper tail- 

 coverts. Palawan Island. 



Also the genus Chalcurus, an aberrant type from Sumatra, with tail of sixteen feathers, as 

 in Phasianus, with no ocelli. Sides of face feathered. Male with two or more pairs of spurs. 

 Sexes alike. 



C. chalcurus. <5 18". 9 15|". General colour brown. Above barred and fringed rufous. 

 Throat and neck with white shaft streaks. (O.G. ii. 66-69.) 



Genus ARGUSIANUS. 



Argus, king of Argos, had one hundred eyes, of which two only were asleep at one time. 

 Juno put the eyes of Argus on the tail of the Peacock, a bird sacred to her divinity. 



Tail of twelve feathers, mid pair elongated. Most typical form of Pheasant 

 wing where first primary is shortest and tenth longest. Secondary quills largely 

 developed, marked with ocelli, and longer than primaries in both sexes. Sides of 

 face, throat, and foreneck naked. Short hairy occipital crest. No spurs. These 

 birds never live in pairs, the female visiting the male. 



14. Argusianus argus. The Abgus Pea-Pheasant. 

 Quon (Malay) ; Kyek-wah, Siam. 



$ 70" to 73", tail from vent 49" to 52"; 4J to 5J lbs. 2 27" to 30", tail from 

 vent 12f' to 13"; 3Jto3f lbs. Legs bright red. Bill white. Facial skin dull 

 pale indigo. — Male: Mantle black, mottled buff. Back and rump buff, with 

 rounded black spots. Secondary quills with a row of large ocelli on outer webs. 

 These eye-like spots are remarkable, and resemble balls lying loosely in sockets. 

 The series of feathers in the wing show gradation in ornament from the more 

 ordinary forms of feather marking, through what Darwin calls the " elliptic 

 ornaments " of the smaller feathers, up to the perfect " ball-and-socket ocelli " on 

 the larger quills. — Female : Primary quills chestnut, irregularly marked with 

 black. No ocelli on wings. Seven or eight eggs (2-6 x 1-9), creamy, speckled 

 red-brown. Eange from Malay Peninsula to Siam and S. Tenasserim. (B. 1326. 

 0. 59.) 



Also A. grayi. 6 60". 9 29". Differs from A. argus in having mantle and wing-coverts 

 mottled, white, and rufous. Lower back and rump rufous-buff. — Female : Neck rust-red. 

 Below sandy brown. Borneo. 



