HAINAN PEACOCK PHEASANT 



Polypledron katsumatae Rothschild 



Names. — Specific : katsumatae, in honour of the collector, Mr. Katsumata, of Japan. English : Hainan or 

 Katsumata's Peacock Pheasant. 



Type. — Locality: Mt. Wuchi, Is. of Hainan, Describer : Lord Rothschild. Place of Description: Bull. 

 Brit. Orn. Club XVI. 1906, p. iii. Location of Type: Tring Museum. 



Brief Description. — Male : Quite close to germaini, but smaller, with the ocelli greenish blue changing to 

 yellowish green, instead of violet and purplish green. The mottling of the back, rump, tail-coverts and ventral 

 plumage is finer, and the chin is not pure white. Female : This also differs in its small size and more uneven and 

 finer markings. None of the ocelli are pointed, and the dorsal plumage is more buffy and less grey than in the 

 corresponding sex oi germaini. 



Range.— The Island of Hainan. 



GENERAL ACCOUNT 



I DID not visit Hainan, and the Japanese collector who discovered this species has 

 given us no field notes. In 1904 a single Polyplectron tail-feather was found in Hainan, 

 but though it appeared to present good specific characters, no designation was given it 

 until complete skins were later obtained by Lord Rothschild, named and described. 



The species is quite close to the mainland form of germaini, but its insularity, 

 forbidding present intergradation, plus the lack of evidence of variability shown by 

 Phasianus colchiciis formosamis, compels me to give it full specific value. 



DETAILED DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male. — Top of head and hind-neck black, barred with pale grey, but the 

 disintegrated condition of the webs gives the appearance of a grizzled rather than a 

 banded pattern. On the upper mantle the webs become firmer and the bands change to 

 pale rufous brown. The ocelli begin small, but perfect, and almost immediately gain 

 full size. They extend over the lower mantle, scapulars and wing-coverts. They are 

 very unlike the ocelli oi germaini in colour. When looked at toward the light they 

 show, instead of a dark, solid violet, a prismatic effect, violet anteriorly, shading through 

 blue into rich shining green along the posterior third. Away from the light, instead of 

 a dull blue green, they are a brilliant yellow green. The terminal ring bordering the 

 ocellus is clear or greyish white. The remainder of the feather is dark brown, thickly 

 spotted with buff. The transition from perfection to total absence of the ocelli on the 

 secondaries takes place usually in the space of two feathers, an asymmetrical faint ocellus 

 on the 8th, and a semi-translucent blur on the outer web of the 7th. The remaining 

 secondaries and primaries are dark brown, the former thickly spotted over the whole 

 outer web, the latter faintly freckled along the margin with buff. 



