40 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



of warm rufous-buff above there is only a trace of this on the mantle down. The 

 central black stripe is grizzled greyish-brown and the lateral stripes are pale creamy- 

 buff. The breast has a tinge of buff, but this hue is very faint on the rest of the 

 ventral surface, the chin, throat and belly being white. The pattern of the sprouting 

 wings is similar to cruentus, but the rufous-buff markings and tips are here replaced 

 by pale buffy-white. Measurements : bill from nostril, 3 ; wing, 41 ; tarsus, 24 ; middle 

 toe and claw, 22 ; length, 89 mm. 



Juvenile Plumage. — This, too, is quite unlike the corresponding plumage of 

 cruentus. The forehead and crown are not buff, but greyish brown, banded with 

 black and buff on the occiput and nape. The colour of the upper surface is distinctly 

 greyer, the terminal pale buff spots thus standing out much more clearly. The 

 black bars on the wing-coverts are also very distinct. The chin and throat is still 

 in the white down. The ventral surface differs much from cruentus. There is little 

 hint of the pale buff shaft-stripe, the loose-webbed feathers being of a rather uniform 

 brownish buff, indistinctly marked with darker and terminated, as on the upper 

 surface, with a pale buff shaft-spot. This is especially marked on the breast and 

 upper belly, the posterior plumage becoming even more loosely webbed and losing 

 all distinguishing characters in a clouded brownish buff. The eight primaries are 

 well grown. No. 9 is yet a mere unbroken sheath of 12 mm., and No. 10 is barely 

 discernible above the skin. The measurements at this age are : bill from nostril, 5 ; 

 wing, 102 ; tail, 48 ; tarsus, 36 ; middle toe and claw, 30 mm. 



Three-quarters Grown Male. — A bird of about ten weeks is in active first 

 autumn moult, nearly completed on the dorsal surface. The rosy feathers are detect- 

 able on the forehead, and the crown feathers are of good length, the black facial 

 feathers are appearing and the black side, crown and ear-coverts show beyond the 

 juvenile plumage. The featherlets of the bare facial area are all juvenile and are 

 white with black tips, except in the subocular area where they are pure white. 



On the dorsal body plumage the blue teleoptile feathers are in the ascendant, 

 there being only a scattering of mesoptile plumage. These latter are dull and 

 mottled, but in the distinct white shaft-stripe and lateral black bands they show a 

 closer approach to the adult pattern than do the mesoptile feathers of cruentus. 



The primaries show an unusual condition in that the inner eight are all actively 

 growing, the bases showing a solid row of blood sheaths in each wing. All have 

 white shafts. The wing-coverts are in full growth and the golden buff bids fair to 

 be equal to that of any fully adult bird. 



The rectrices are all new except the outer pair, which is juvenile. The next two 

 inner pairs still show growth. The juvenile rectrices differ from the corresponding 

 feathers of cruentus in being mottled with a cold grey rather than with buff, and 

 having a white shaft. They measure 73 mm. 



The new rectrices are clouded grey with very broad crimson fringes, well 

 developed even on the 2nd from the outer pair. 



The under surface, as in cruentus, is lagging behind in the progress of the 



