Courtship. 223 



of the female this collar or tippet is brought over to the side 

 nearest to the hen, as has been described by the late Mr. T. W. 

 Wood, who paid great attention to the amatory displays 

 of birds. Eespecting that of the Golden Pheasant he writes : 

 " Not the least remarkable example of the lateral mode of 

 display during courtship is that of the Golden Pheasant, 

 whose elegant form and brilliant colouring are so well known 

 in this country. The male runs very playfully after the female, 

 and, placing himself in front of her, quickly expands his collar, 

 bringing nearly the whole of it round to the side where it is 

 to be exhibited, and thereby presenting to view a flat disc 

 of bright orange-red, banded with perfect regularity by blue- 

 black semicircles ; the hen, on seeing this, frequently runs 

 away pursued by her would-be mate, who generally finds 

 himself placed with his other side towards her, and the collar 

 is accordingly shown on that side. At the moment the full 

 expansion of the collar takes place the bird utters a very 

 snake-like hiss, which, according to our notions, would not 

 be very fascinating as a love-song ; the body is very much 

 ■distorted, as is the case with the true pheasants, but the tail 

 is not spread so much, as the curved, roof-like shape prevents 

 its forming a flat surface. Shght breaks would occur in the 

 black stripes of the collar when expanded, were it not that 

 each feather has a second black stripe which is so placed as 

 effectually to prevent this." 



Below the tippet on the lower part of the neck the feathers 

 are deep-green margined with velvet black ; below this again 

 are the scapular feathers of a dark crimson ; the back and 

 rump are golden yellow ; the tail itself is very long, the two 

 longest central feathers are covered with small irregular 

 circles of light-brown on a dark ground, giving them a mottled 

 appearance ; the other feathers are barred diagonally with 

 dark brown on a lighter ground. On each side of the base 

 of the tail extend the long narrow upper tail coverts of a bright 

 orange crimson. The wings when closed show the deep blue 

 tertiaries covering the chestnut secondary quills. The upper 



