MALAY ARGUS PHEASANT 131 



Eight well-grown secondaries are visible, while number nine is but little shorter. 

 Weight 2 '5 oz. 



Iris pale brown, bill pale horny, legs and feet orange red, claws whitish. Length, 

 158 mm. ; expanse, 280 ; bill from nostril 10 ; wing, 84 ; tail 17 ; tarsus 30 ; middle toe 

 and claw, 25 mm. 



EARLY HISTORY 



Linnadus in 1766 gave to this bird the name oi Phasianus argus, and several lines 

 of very poor description. He adds : " Habitat in Tataria Chinensi," which erroneous 

 information is accepted and faithfully handed on by Latham, Sonnini and many other 

 authors. 



Latham in his "General Synopsis of Birds," published in 1783, under the caption of 

 Place and Manners of the Argus Pheasant, gives us a number of facts which do duty in 

 various ornithological works throughout the succeeding fifty years. Latham in turn had 

 obtained this information from Marsden's " History of Sumatra." 



He says it inhabits China, and that the specimens thus far received have lacked 

 head and legs. This species is "likewise common in the woods at Sumatra, where it is 

 called Coo-ow. It is found extremely difficult to be kept alive for any considerable time 

 after catching it in the woods ; never for more than a month. It seems to have an 

 antipathy to the light, being quite inanimate in the open day ; but when kept in a dark 

 place, it appears perfectly at ease, and sometimes makes its note or call, from which it 

 takes its name ; and which is rather plaintive, and not harsh, like that of a peacock. 

 The flesh resembles that of the common pheasant. 



SYNONYMY 



Phasianus argus Linn. S.N. L 1766, p. 272; Gmelin, S.N. I. pt. IL 1788, p. 742 ; Latham, Ind. Orn. H. 

 1790, p. 629; Bonnat. Tabl. Encycl. Meth. L 1791, p. 188, pi. ^7. fig. 3; Shaw, Mus. Lever. 1792, p. 41, pi.; 

 Raffles, Tr. Linn. Soc. XIII. 1822, p. 320 [Sumatra]; Gray, in Griff, ed. Cuv. III. 1829, p. 24. 



L Argus on Le Lnen Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. II. 1771, p. 361. 



Argus Pheasant Latham, Gen. Syn. II. 1783, p. 710 ; id. Gen, Hist. VIII. 1823, p. 205 ; Darwin, Descent of 

 Man, Westminster Edition, pp. 405, 443 [display and gradation of ocelli] ; Skeat and Blagden, Pagan Races of the 

 Malay Peninsula, I. and II. 1906, pp. 217, 473, 477. 



Argus giganteus Temminck, Pig. et. Gall. II. 1813, p. 410, III. 1815, p. 678 ; Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. XI. 

 i8r9,p. 243, pi. 14; Schinz, Nat. Abbild.Vog. 1833, p. 253, pi. c^j ; Jard. Nat. Lib. Orn. IV., 1S34, p. 165, pi. VIII ; 

 Jard. and Selb. III. Orn. n. s. 1837, pis. 14 & 15 ; Gray, List of Birds, p. III. Gall. 1844, p. 23 ; id. Gen. B. III. 1845, 

 p. 496 ; Blyth, Cat. Mus. As. Soc. 1849, p. 242 ; Schinz, Nat. Vog. 1853, p. 152, pi. 74 ; Cass. U. S. Expl. Exped. 

 1858, p. 292 [Singapore] ; Sclater, List of Phas. 1863, p. 12 [part] ; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863, p. 124; 

 Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863, p. 222 ; Fitz. Atl. Nat., Vog. 1864, fig. 226 ; Wallace, Malay Arch. I. 1869, 

 p. 32 ; Elliot, Mon. Phas. I. 1872, pi. 11 ; Vekemans, Bull, de la Soc. d'Acclim. 1873, p. 366 [captivity] ; Garrod, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1873, p. 468 ; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1873, p. 473 ; Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 

 1873, p. 640; Hume, Stray Feathers, II. 1874, p. 481 [Tenasserim), III. 1875, p. 324; Garrod, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 Lond. 1876, p. 194 ; Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1877, p. 307 ; Hume, Stray Feathers, VI. 1878, p. 427 [habits] ; 

 Hume and Marshall, Game Birds, India, I. 1878, p. 99, pi. ; Hume and Davison, Stray Feathers, VI. 1878, p. 427. 

 [S. Tenasserim]; Hume, Stray Feathers, VIII. 1879, p. 68 [Malacca] ; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 115, pis. 

 vii. and viii., fig. i ; Wray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1887, p. 432 [Head-waters of Perak River] ; d'Aubusson, Bull, 

 de la Soc. d'Acclim. 1887, p. 599 ; Delaurier, Bull, de la Soc. d'Acclim. 1892, part 2, p. 461 [breeding in captivity] ; 

 Mitchell, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1896, p. 138; Delaurier, Bull, de la Soc. d'Acclim. 1907, p. 374 [captivity]; 

 Fauque, Bull, de la Soc. d'Acclim. 1907, p. 115 [captivity]; Mitchell, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 191 1, p. 522 

 [Viability in captivity]. 



Argus pavonius Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. II. 1816, p. 507 ; id. Gal. des Ois. II. 1825, p. 19, pi. 204 ; Less. 

 Traits d'Orn. 1831, p. 488, pi. 84. 



Malay Peacock Latham, Gen. Hist. VIII. 1823, p. 121, pi. 120. 



