CHAPTER IV. 



The Long-tailed Pheasants. 



Of the various long-tailed t3^es of pheasants, 

 the true Argus is certainly the most remarkable, 

 the genus being quite unique among birds in 

 general. The most important characters, in addi- 

 tion to the bare head and long secondary quills 

 mentioned in the previous chapter, are the rather 

 long legs and the tail, which is folded like that of 

 a common fowl and composed of only 12 feathers. 

 It is only moderately long in the hen, barely ex- 

 ceeding the wing ; but in the cock the middle tail 

 feathers are of enormous length, up to over four 

 feet. In this sex also the secondary quills, which 

 are very broad as well as long, exceed the prima- 

 ries by considerably more than a foot ; even in the 

 hen the primaries are some inches shorter than 

 the secondaries. 



The Argus. 



Argusianus argus, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 

 Vol. IV, p. 71. 



Native names : — Quou, Burong quou, 

 Kwang, Malay ; Kyekwah, Siamese at 

 Bankasoon. 



The plumage of this bird would be \-ery diffi- 

 cult to describe in full, but it is not hard briefly to 

 characterise. In both sexes it is mostly of a dark 



