374 THE ARGUS PHEASANT. 
beauty. As might be supposed from the general arrangement of the 
plumage, the bird is by no means a good flyer, and when it takes to the 
air only flies for a short distance. In running its wings are said to be 
efficient aids. 
Although the Argus is hardly larger than an ordinary fowl the plumage is 
so greatly developed that its total length measures more than five feet. The 
head and back of the neck are covered with short brown feathers, and the 
neck and upper part of the breast 
are warm chestnut-brown, covered 
with spots of yellow and black, and 
similar tints are formed on ‘the 
back. The tail is deep chestnut, 
covered with white spots, each spot 
being surrounded with a black ring. 
The Argus Pheasant inhabits 
Sumatra and neighbouring local- 
ities. 
THE well known PHEASANT 
affords a triumphant instance of 
the success with which a bird of a 
strange country may be acclimatized 
to this island with some little assist- 
ance from its owners. 
Originally the Pheasant was an 
- inhabitant of Asia Minor, and has 
been by degrees introduced into 
many European countries, where its 
beauty of form and plumage and 
the delicacy of its flesh made ita 
welcome visitor. 
The food of this bird is extremely 
varied. When young it is generally 
fed on ants’ eggs, maggots, grits, 
and similar food, but when it is 
fully grown it is possessed of an 
accommodating appetite, and will 
eat many kinds of seeds, roots, and 
leaves. The tubers of the common 
ARGUS PHEASANT.—(Argus giganteus.) buttercup form a considerable item 
in its diet, and the bird will also eat 
beans, peas, acorns, and berries of various kinds. 
The Pheasant is a ground-loving bird, running with great speed, and always 
preferring to trust to its legs rather than its wings. It is a crafty creature, 
and when alarmed, instead of rising on the wing, it slips quietly out of sight 
behind a bush or through a hedge, and then runs away with astonishing 
rapidity, always remaining under cover until it reaches some spot where it 
deems itself to be safe. 
The nest of the Pheasant is a very rude attempt at building, being merely 
a heap of leaves and grasses collected together upon the ground, and with a 
very slight depression, caused apparently quite as much by the weight of the 
eggs as by the art of the bird. The eggs are numerous, generally about 
eleven or twelve, and their colour is a uniform olive-biown. ‘Their surface is 
very smooth. 
THE BANKIVA JUNGLE FOWL is now supposed to be the original stock of 
the domesticated poultry, 
