50 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



livid blue or green, is almost the only point which 

 this very over-dressed bird shares with the hen 

 of his species. 



If his attire were less exuberant, Lady Amherst's 

 ■godchild would still attract attention by his start- 

 ling colouring. His crown, throat, breast, upper 

 back, and wings, are rich metallic dark green, with 

 black edgings to the feathers ; the under-parts below 

 the (breast are pure white. The ruff is white, with 

 black edgings to each feather, and the enormous 

 centre tail-feathers are also white, with black bars 

 and pencillings ; the side tail-feathers are brown and 

 differently marked. The whole is set off by the 

 -blood-red crest, scarlet tips to the long upper tail- 

 coverts, and by the lower back being yellow, bor- 

 dered with scarlet where it nears the tail. 



The eyes are white, and the legs bluish like the 

 face. The length of this bird is over four feet, 

 but a yard of this is tail ; the wing barely exceeds 

 eight inches, and the shank three ; it is a smaller 

 and lighter-made bird than the home pheasant. 



The hen is brown, boldly barred with black, 

 especially upon the upper surface of the body. 

 She has a bare bluish or greenish space round the 

 eye, and grey legs, like the cock, but her eyes are 

 dark. Her zebra-like markings will easily distin- 

 guish her from the hen of Stone's pheasant, the 

 only one for which she could be mistaken. Besides, 

 her tail is much longer in proportion than that 

 bird's, being more than a foot long, although she 

 is a smaller bird. 



This remarkable bird is one of the latest addi- 

 tions to the fauna of our Empire, having onty been 

 introduced to our notice in 1859 by Mr. Gates 



