22 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Hardwicke's 111. Ind. Zool., is a bad figure of some female 

 Polyplectron. 



With Bonaparte I would class here, rather than with the 

 Pheasants, the real Argus Pheasant, Argusanus gigaiiteus, 

 Temm., (Pavo argus,) L., of the Malay Peninsula as far north as 

 Merguij Sumatra, and some of the Islands. The race from 

 Borneo is stated to differ somewhat. In this magnificent bird 

 the secondary quills are longer than the primaries, and all beauti- 

 fully covered, as well as the tail, with fine ocelli. The tail consists 

 of only twelve feathers. It does not occur in Sylhet as stated by 

 Hard wick e in his MSS. in the British Museum. 



Sub-fam. Phasianin^:, Pheasants. 



Tail typically long, with the central feathers sometimes of great 

 length ; plumage rarely ocellated ; tail in most of eighteen 

 feathers ; head more or less crested. 



Among the Pheasants, I include the Monaul, the Horned 

 Pheasants, the Pucras, the true Pheasants, the Gold and Silver 

 Pheasants, the Snow Pheasants, the Blood Pheasants, and 

 the Kalij Pheasants, which last form the link to the next 

 group, the Jungle-fowl and Fire-backs. These are all 

 inhabitants of the highlands of Central Asia, the Himalayas 

 and China, and do not (with the exception of one member 

 of the Kalij group) extend into the Burmese province, and not 

 at all into Malayana. 



I shall commence the series with the Monaul, which, by the 

 form of its crest and its rich metallic colours, approaches nearest 

 to the Peacocks. 



Gen. Lophopiiorus, Temminck. 



Syn. Monaulus, Vieillot — Impeyanus, Lesson. 



Char. — Head with a Peacock-like crest of several feathers, bare 

 on the shaft, feathered and lanceolate at the tip only ; orbits 

 bare ; bill somewhat lengthened, the tip projecting and hooked ; 

 tarsus of the male with one rather short spur ; tail short, nearly 

 even, or slightly rounded, of sixteen feathers. 



