BLYTH'S TRAGOPAN 83 



DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS 



Adult Male. — Lores, forehead, face, crown, ear-coverts, and a broad band around 

 the throat lappet and the nape jet black. Face, chin and lappet almost bare. Entire 

 mid-crown from above eye back over occiput deep orange red. The long black fore- 

 crown feathers extend over the centre of this area, dividing it superficially into super- 

 ciliary lines. The same orange-red colour is found around the entire neck, on the breast, 

 and on the bend, and part of the anterior edge of the wing. Above, the red of the neck 

 gives place abruptly to the dorsal pattern. This is rather complex as, unlike temmincki, 

 the distal specialized area of the feathers is too slightly developed to conceal the basal, 

 generalized buff and black portions. On the other hand, the pigmentation of the ends 

 of the feathers shows a decided advance over that of satyra. Taking a feather from the 

 lower mantle as typical, we find that the basal three-fourths of the integrated part of 

 the vane is dark brownish-black, mottled and irregularly barred with pale buff. The 

 terminal fourth is occupied chiefly by two large lateral ocelli of warm Indian red, which 

 coalesce at their anterior inner portions across the tip of the shaft. In the centre of 

 latter area is a round white ocellus of pigment, with its outline well marked, but 

 diffusing a dim haze of pearly white over the terminal barbs between it and the tip of 

 the feather. This diffusion becomes very marked on the longer wing and tail-coverts. 

 As about half of the definite portion of each feather is visible, the dorsal pattern and 

 colour are equally divided between the specialized and generalized areas. The flight 

 feathers are black with conspicuous crossbars, pale buff on the secondaries, warm buff 

 on the primaries. So extreme is the diffusion of the white ocellus on the longer tail- 

 coverts, that almost the entire visible area is creamy white, with a margin of rufous. 

 The tail feathers are black with considerable basal mottling. 



The under surface, starting abruptly at the transverse margin of red on the breast, 

 is smoky grey, with faint indications of the subterminal white ocellus, in the form of a 

 diffuse whitish area. The flanks show a patch of feathers coloured as on the dorsal 

 surface, with the white ocellus reduced to a narrow line, and much of the red ocelli 

 obscured with smoky grey. 



The flesh colours, as in all the Tragopans, vary considerably according to the 

 season of the year. Orbital skin orange, cephalic horns azure blue, lappet yellowish 

 orange, set off by intense bluish green. Mandibles dull horny, pale at tips ; irides dark 

 hazel ; legs and feet brownish yellow, changing to a strong pink or even reddish in the 

 breeding season ; claws darker. Spurs short and stout ; bill from nostril, 16 ; wing, 

 261; tail, 200; tarsus, 80 ; middle toe and claw, 76 mm. 



Adult Female. — Of all the female Tragopans this species shows the highest 

 development of the lateral black ocelli. On the forehead, crown and nape the feathers 

 are black with little more than a greyish buffy tip. Posteriorly we find the buff pushing 

 down the feather, outlining the two lateral, subterminal, black ocelli, and covering all 

 the remainder with a mottling of grey-buff and dark brown. The ocelli are further 

 emphasized by a narrow frame of warm rufous-buff. Here and there pale centres are 

 developed, but they become nowhere a prominent feature except on the outer middle 

 wing-coverts, where they are pale buff, and, to a less extent, as white spots on the longer, 



