Plumage. 183 



As the bird crosses freely both with the common and the 

 Chinese species, it is desirable to give an accurate and detailed 

 description of its plumage. For this purpose I shall again 

 have recourse to Mr. Gould's " Birds of Asia," and reproduce 

 his elaborate description of the two sexes :— 



" The male has the forehead, crown, and occiput purplish 

 oil green ; ear tufts glossy green ; chin, throat, and sides and 

 back of the neck glossy changeable bluish-green ; back of the 

 neck, breast, and under surface deep shining grass green, with 

 shades of purple on the back of the neck and upper part of the 

 breast ; feathers of the back and scapularies chesnut, with 

 buffy shafts and two narrow lines of buff running round each, 

 about equi-distant from each other and the margin ; lower 

 part of the back and upper tail coverts light glaucous grey ; 

 shoulders and wing coverts light greenish-grey, washed with 

 purple ; primaries brown on the internal web, toothed with dull 

 white at the base ; outer web greyer and irregularly banded with 

 dull white ; tertiaries brown, freckled with grey, and margined 

 first with greenish-grey and then with reddish chesnut ; centre of 

 abdomen and thighs blackish-brown ; tail glaucous grey, 

 slightly fringed with purplish, and with a series of black marks 

 down the centre, opposite to each other at the base of the 

 feathers, where they assume a band-like form ; as they advance 

 towards the tip they gradually become more and more irregular, 

 until they are arranged alternately, and in the like manner 

 gradually increase in size ; on the lateral feathers these marks 

 are much smaller, and on the outer ones are entirely wanting, 

 those feathers being covered with freckles of brown ; orbits 

 crimson red, interspersed with minute tufts of black feathers ; 

 eyes, yellowish hazel ; bill and feet horn colour. 



" Compared with the female of the common pheasant, the 

 hen of the present bird has all the markings much stronger, 

 and is altogether of a darker colour. She has the whole of 

 the upper surface very dark or blackish brown, each feather 

 broadly edged with buff, passing in some of the feathers to a 

 chesnut hue ; those of the head, and particularly those of the 



