BROWN EARED-PHEASANT 177 



in the relative proportion of black and brown in the plumage, the glossy black occa- 

 sionally predominating and giving the impression of a jet-black pheasant. This is 

 somewhat, but only to a small extent, due to wear, the plumage just before moult being 

 slightly paler than in the freshly moulted bird. 



Bare facial area, legs, feet and spurs scarlet ; bill light reddish horn colour ; claws 

 horn colour ; eyes pale reddish-brown. Length, 1000 ; bill from nostril, 27 ; wing, 306 ; 

 tail, 544; tarsus, 100; middle toe and claw, 75 mm. Spurs stout, strong and conical 

 in shape, 10 to 13 mm. 



Adult Female. — There is no decided difference in colour between the males and 

 females, but the latter are appreciably smaller in size. Bill from nostril, 26 ; wing, 290 ; 

 tail, 520 ; tarsus, 94 ; middle toe and claw, 73 mm. The spurs are scarcely noticeable 

 in the females, being sharp, but very short scalules. 



Natal Down. — Crown and face dull yellowish buff; occiput and nape with a patch 

 of rufous, extending down the hind neck as a darker stripe, and broadening out over 

 the upper service as rufous much mixed with black. Two lateral, creamy-white stripes 

 extend from the shoulders to the down of the tail. A dark chocolate-brown stripe is 

 drawn obliquely backward from the orbit, across the ear-coverts, ending in an enlarged 

 patch on the side neck, not joining the nuchal stripe. Chin and throat creamy white. 



The smaller scapulars as seen when they are first sprouting are rufous, with pale 

 buff tips, and a large, round, brown ocellus on each web. The primaries are for the 

 most part dull brown with whitish tips and a few buff spots near the end. The 

 secondaries (what can be seen of them at this early age) are pale brown, barred with 

 buff and white. Seven primaries grow rapidly from the first, the longest being over 

 37 mm. out of the sheath at the time when No. 8 is still ensheathed, and No. 9 is a 

 minute papilla. The secondaries grade off gradually, the 8th and 9th being very 

 tiny, only a little way out of the sheaths. Bill from nostril, 9 ; wing, 63 ; tail, just 

 appearing ; tarsus, 33 ; middle toe and claw, 25 mm. 



Young Female. — A rather young female shows that the post-juvenile plumage is 

 uniform brown from crown to back, and with the white ear-tufts very small. The entire 

 under parts are also brown in colour like the wings of the adult. Wings and tail like 

 the adult, but the tail shorter and of a more impure brownish white. 



EARLY HISTORY 



In 1862 Swinhoe exhibited the skin of a female Brown Eared-pheasant which had 

 been sent to him from Tsin-tsin by a Dr. Lamprey. After much vague theorizing and 

 circumlocution he decides it is not auritum, although that supposition forms the title 

 of his paper, and he names it mantchuricum. 



Except for a decade of confusion with the Blue Eared-pheasant, auritum, the 

 synonomy of this species is almost free from error. 



