84 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



head and neck are greenish, the back a shining purp- 

 hsh-blue, with red and green iridescence. Across the 

 tail is a wide band of pure white, the tail itself being 

 brownish, barred with darker colour. 



Other well-known species of Pheasant are the 

 Reeves and the Lady Amherst. 



But the largest, and in some respects the most con- 

 spicuous, of this family is the Argus Pheasant, a 

 native of the Indo-Malay Peninsula. It is remark- 

 able for the enormous length of the inner flight- 

 feathers of the wings, while the tail-feathers are also 

 extremely long. But it is not so much the great 

 length as the wonderful and complicated pattern on 

 them that makes them so extraordinary. Large eye- 

 like marks are placed at regular intervals along the 

 main shafts, so wonderfully shaded as to look like balls 

 lying loose within sockets, with a wonderful network 

 of spots and lines about them. The colours are rich 

 brown and white. When the male bird displays, he 

 raises and spreads his wings so that they form a great 

 circle over his back, the wings being raised at the same 

 time. See Plate 26, Figs. 152, 153. 



Perhaps the crowning glory of this family is the 

 Peacock, a native of India, and one of the most mar- 

 vellously coloured of all the feathered tribe. It is dis- 

 tinguished at once by its long train of feathers, which 

 drag on the ground when the bird is walking. Each 

 of these is a gem in itself, being finished at the tip by 

 a large expanded web, in the centre of which is a 

 huge eye-like form. In a mass they seem to shimmer 

 and glow with all the prismatic colours — red in some 

 lights, green and gold in others. The "eyes" are a 



