126 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 
colour becoming more abundant posteriorly and giving the feathers a general darker 
tone. Flight-feathers brownish-black, the primaries faintly and the secondaries heavily 
mottled and streaked with chestnut on the outer webs. Longest upper tail-coverts 
like the secondaries. Tail-feathers chestnut-brown, the two central pairs mottled with 
black. In many specimens these markings are in the form of narrow, widely separated, 
but distinct transverse bands. Chin and throat creamy white. Lower neck and breast 
chestnut, margined with white on the sides. . Lower breast, abdomen, sides, flanks and 
thighs brownish-black, often mottled with chestnut, with a wide margin of white all 
around. Lower abdomen with the brown reduced to a central mottling, the remaining 
portion of the downy feathers white. Under tail-coverts brownish-black, with dull 
rufous margins. Irides red; facial skin blue, not as bright as in the male; bill and 
cere dark, the edges of lower mandible and tip of the upper paler horn colour; feet 
and legs pale flesh, redder on the frontal scales. Weight, 3} lbs. Spurs sharp, but 
very small, the longest only 4 mm. Length, 602; extent, 806; bill from nostril, 18; 
wing, 255; tail, 207; tarsus, 95; middle toe and claw, 55. 
FEMALE PLUMAGE VARIATIONS.—The females show considerable variation, the 
chief being where, on the one hand, the entire dorsal surface is rich chestnut, mottled 
on the wings, back and rump with black; or again birds with the back, wings and 
rump pale buff, heavily vermiculated with black, the mantle being quite evenly dotted 
with black. These are the extremes, and we find all sorts of intergradations. Then 
too in a small percentage of specimens the white edging of the ventral plumage is 
found on the feathers of the upper neck and mantle. These variations are due neither 
to age nor locality. 
NataL Down.—Short facial down pale buffy white; forehead pale buff, warming 
into rufous buff on the crown and rufous on the nape and hind neck. A narrow black 
line begins at the lower posterior edge of the orbit (with a tiny bit of black on the 
upper posterior margin), and extends backward and downward across the facial area 
and ear-coverts, merging with the rich orange rufous of the hind neck. The back is 
dark chocolate brown, the wing-coverts more chestnut, with a broad buff bar across 
the centre of the wing. Two well-marked buffy white lines begin on the scapulars 
and extend backward parallel with the wide chocolate dorsal area, to the rump. Outside 
of these in turn two chocolate bands, equal to the buff in width, extend backward from 
under the posterior dorsal edge of the wings, turning at last rather abruptly downward 
to the flanks. The inferior border of the facial area, the breast, sides and flanks are 
strongly tinged with buff, while the remaining ventral surface is creamy white. Iris 
dark hazel brown. The bill from nostril is 4 mm.; wing, 25; tarsus, 24; middle toe 
and claw, 18. 
JUVENILE PLuMAGE, Mare.—An interesting stage is shown by a bird with 
abundant juvenile plumage, but showing active traces of the first-year or post-juvenile 
moult. This moult, as we shall see in the description of the succeeding bird, seldom 
results in perfect adult hues and patterns; and although the bird may breed the coming 
season, its tail-feathers are seldom pure in colour, and its iridescence is not as strong 
as it will be after the second annual moult. 
