122 PEACOCK. 



large, black spots, each surrounded with a pale circle; in the white 

 part are many black, circular spots ; the tail is compressed, straight, 

 and the feathers placed vertically in two rows, the uppermost vastly 

 longer than the others, have white tips, and are acuminated; on the 

 upper web they are greyish, and on the inner brown, on both 

 innumerable white spots, each surrounded by a black ring; rump 

 pale rust-colour, with many large, black, irregular spots on each 

 feather; legs and feet naked from the knees, bright red, the hind toe 

 small; the leg not furnished with spurs. 



This bird has not been unfrequently met with in aviaries in India, 

 and the above description was taken from a tine male specimen, by 

 Dr. Buchanan, and by him communicated to me. These birds, he 

 believes, have always been brought from the Malay Peninsula, and 

 have, at times, the power of spreading the tail as the Peacock, 

 which it is observed to do now and then : according to the Doctor, it 

 is a distinct species from the Argus Pheasant, which differs in many 

 particulars, as will be noticed in the description of that bird. 

 Should this be the case, which we think by no means improbable, it 

 serves to shew, that we have not yet seen a complete specimen of the 

 latter in England ; but this is not the only bird of which we have an 

 imperfect idea, as may be seen in respect to the long-tail f of some 

 sort of Pheasant, brought from China, of which we have little more 

 than conjecture ; the same also may be observed in several Paradise 

 Birds, as we are only in possession of their fragments. 



Among the drawings of General Hardwicke is a male, with his 

 tine gaudy plumage displayed; and in the same drawings, one also 

 of the female, which, as the General was informed by an intelligent 

 friend,* had the general plumage buff-colour, mottled with grey, not 

 unlike the back of the Little Bustard. In this drawing, the sides 

 of the head, and neck before, were bare, and of a bluish colour ; 

 crown and hind part of the neck with elongated brown feathers ; 



* Captain Griffiths. -f See PI. exxiv.* 



