16 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male. — Forehead, lores and feathers around bare facial area, black ; 

 fore crown cinnamon, shading behind into paler buff, the crest composed of these 

 buff feathers and of elongated blue-grey ones with white shaft-stripes ; nape and mantle 

 grey (Payne's grey) with a white shaft-stripe ; scapulars, lower back, rump, lesser and 

 inner median wing-coverts similar, but with the shaft-stripes faintly washed with green 

 and edged with black ; outer median wing-coverts with much wider shaft-stripes of 

 apple-green, and the vane outside the black of a dark laurel green. The margins of 

 the upper tail-coverts are of a deep crimson colour, and the barbs are decomposed, 

 making these feathers look very long and narrow. 



The primaries and their coverts uniform blackish brown, with the rhachis dark 

 brown proximally, shading into' shining white for the distal half, while near the 

 extremity a wide shaft-stripe appears, slightly dilated at the tip of the feathers. The 

 secondaries are margined along the outer edge with a mottling of whitish buff. 

 The tertiaries are margined all around with impure greenish, but are otherwise 

 exaggerated copies of the lower back feathers. 



Tail-feathers creamy white at the tip, shading irregularly into blackish brown 

 toward the base. Rhachis as in primaries. Lateral margins of the webs decomposed 

 and coloured deep crimson as in coverts, the crimson decreasing from the middle pair 

 outward, and wholly absent from the outermost one or two pairs. 



Featherlets of bare facial area black, except for a circular subocular patch, which 

 is crimson in fully adult males. Auriculars and sides of neck particoloured, partaking 

 of the black, pale green, grey or crimson hues of adjacent areas, according to whether 

 they sprout from the anterior, posterior, dorsal or ventral portions of their zone. Chin 

 and throat dark crimson on exposed parts of feathers, basal half black : posteriorly a 

 whitish-green tip appears and by the increase of this and of the basal black the crimson 

 disappears, and on the lower throat the black almost reaches the tip, and the green 

 has become only a wide central stripe. Continuing posteriorly, the black disappears 

 rather abruptly, its place being taken, about half-way down the feather, by a rusty or 

 orange tinge. On the breast this new tint culminates usually in spots of bright 

 crimson. In the central area of the breast in Nepal birds there is a rounded or slightly 

 elongated spot of this colour on each web. The amount of this pectoral crimson is 

 entirely independent of age. On the sides and lower breast the crimson is usually 

 absent, the green becoming of a deeper and stronger shade. On the sides a pale green 

 shaft-stripe appears and this grades into the white-striped, grey flanks. The under 

 tail-coverts are rich, dark crimson tipped with whitish green. The down of the belly 

 has a strong buffy tinge and the tarsal feathers are of a generalized buff and mottled- 

 white type. 



Mandibles black ; cere and gape coral-red to intense crimson, in winter paling to 

 salmon colour ; iris rich hazel ; legs and toes crimson, paler in winter ; claws dark horn 

 colour, paler at base. 



Length, 438-482 (460); wing, 194-228 (211); tail, 164-178 (171); bill from 

 nostril, 11; tarsus, 66-76 (71); middle toe and claw, 59-65 (62) mm. 



Weight, 1 lb. 1 oz. to 1 lb. 4 oz. 



