870 



A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



U-shaped tip and narrow edging of purplish-black and hollow 

 black centres, those of rest of mantle and scapulars fringed reddish- 

 purple and with brown-black centres with pale buff shafts, oval lines 

 and mottlings ; feathers of back with broad reddish -purple tips 

 with a very narrow purplish -green subterminal line and rest of 

 feather (mostly concealed) black-brown mottled brown-buff and 

 with pale buff shafts ; rump and upper -tail coverts same but tips of 

 feathers elongated and of loose structure with more greenish -purple 

 and centres more uniform buff -brown speckled black ; lower, 

 (concealed) upper tail-coverts buff-brown mottled black and widely 

 edged rufous ; breast, sides and flanks deep 

 burnished copper, feathers widely margined 

 blackish purplish -blue, centres of feathers dull 

 black with buffish shaft-lines ; middle of breast 

 black, feathers tipped deep green-purple ; 

 centre of belly, tibia and under tail-coverts 

 black, feathers edged and tipped rufous, 

 broadly on tail -coverts ; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts brown-buff with wavy lines 

 and mottlings of dusky-black ; tail : central 

 pair with central portions and tips buff -brown 

 with widely-spaced narrow black bars, broad 

 fringed edges of rufous glossed reddish-pur- 

 ple, next four pairs with outer webs barred 

 black and edged rufous -purple and inner webs 

 usually heavily mottled black, outer feathers 

 with a little rufous edging at base and a few 

 bars, and outer webs much mottled black ; 

 primaries brown with mottled pale buff bars ; 

 secondaries same but outer webs washed buff ; 

 primary and greater coverts much as secon- 

 daries but with pale buff oval lines and 

 mottlings rather than bars ; rest of wing- 

 coverts buff, inner median and greater and innermost secondaries 

 edged rufous-purple and with black centres lined pale buff (some 

 coverts with slight glossy greenish tinge subterminally), upper 

 lesser coverts with buff -lined black centre not concealed by narrow 

 buff tips. 



Ph. c. torquatus. — Head like Ph. c. colchicus but with somewhat ill- 

 defined white eye-stripe and white ring round base of neck, incom- 

 plete in front and not always complete at back ; margins of feathers 

 of upper -mantle bufnsh-yellow ; lower part of mantle with central 

 part of feathers more contrasted whitish-buff and black than in Ph. c. 

 colchicus ; feathers of back and rump with long tips of greyish -green 

 with subterminal bright glossy- green bands, sides of back greyer 

 and bluer, tips of upper tail-coverts buffish-green and patches at 

 sides of rump rusty-orange ; concealed upper tail-coverts closely 

 barred black ; feathers of breast more narrowly edged purple - 

 black and tips more bifurcate than in colchicus ; sides and flanks 



Feather from rump of adult 

 male British Pheasant. 



