THE JAPANESE PHEASANT 



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, 

 chestnut, with buffy shafts, and two narrow Hnes of buff, 

 running round each, about equidistant 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, speckled with grey, and margined first with greenish- 

 grey and then with chestnut ; 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 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 they 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 

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

 back, with a small oval deep spot, of deep glossy green close 

 to the tip ; primaries and secondaries, light brown, irregularly 

 barred with buff, and with buffy shafts; tertiaries, dark 

 brown, broadly edged with buff on their inner webs, and 



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