GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 45 



lighter markings, in the males, occurring at Pahang in the 

 Malay Peninsula, it has never, so far as I know been brought 

 to Europe alive. 



We have next to consider the Peacock-Pheasants, 

 or Polyplectrons, which are rather small birds as 

 pheasants go, with long legs, short rounded wings,, 

 and long flattish tails, composed of as many as 

 twenty broad rounded feathers. The upper tail 

 coverts are also very long and broad. The gen- 

 eral build is light, and the birds are very active 

 There is a bare skin round the eye in both sexes ; 

 but the female is smaller and less bright than the 

 male, and is not spurred, whereas the male has 

 more than one spur on each leg, whence the scien- 

 tific name, which means "many-spurred." 



Only one species is certainly known as occurring 

 in our empire. 



The Grey Peacock-Pheasant. 



Polyplectrwn chinquis, Faun. Brit. Ind.,. 

 Birds, Vol. IV, p. 73. 



Native names : — Paisa-walla majur, Cachar 

 Tea-Garden coolies ; Munnowur, Deyoda- 

 huk, Assamese ; Deodurug, Deodirrik, Garo 

 Hills ; Kat-mor, Chittagong ; Doun-kalah, 

 Arrakan and Pegu ; Shwedong, Tenasserim. 



The male of this species has a rather short,, 

 hairy-looking crest, always standing on end ; his 

 tail is several inches longer than the closed wing. 

 The general plumage is a grizzle, produced by- 

 numberless tiny cream-coloured spots on a drab 

 ground, but the throat is pure white, and the back, 

 wings, and tail studded with eye-spots of green 

 shot with purple, and bordered with cream colour.. 



