VIEILLOrS FIEEBACK PHEASANT. 
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mandible is dark horny brown, the lower horny white ; irides clear pale 
red ; facial skin smalt-blue, bright in the male, rather duller in the female. 
{Davison.) 
Male : Length 28 inches, tail 10, wing 12, tarsus 4*3, bill from gape 
1*7. The female : length 23 inches, tail 7*5, wing 10, tarsus 3*5, bill from 
gape 1*6. 
Vieillot^s Fireback Pheasant occurs in the south of Tenas scrim, about 
as far as the town of that name, and not further north. 
It extends down the Malay peninsula, and is probably found in the 
island of Sumatra. 
Mr. Davison observes : — " These birds frequent the thick evergreen 
forests in small parties of five or six : usually there is only one male in 
the party, the rest being females ; but on one or two occasions I have seen 
two males together ; sometimes the males are found quite alone. I have 
never heard the males crow, nor do I think that they ever do so ; when 
alarmed both males and females have a peculiar sharp note, exceedingly 
like that of the large Black-backed Squirrel (Sciurus bicolor) . The males 
also continually make a whirring sound with their wings, which can be 
well imitated by twirling rapidly between the hands a small stick, in the 
cleft of which a piece of stiff cloth has been transversely placed. I have 
often discovered the whereabouts of a flock by hearing this noise. They 
never come into the open, but confine themselves to the forest, feeding on 
berries, tender leaves, and insects and grubs of all kinds ; and they are 
very fond of scratching about, after the manner of domestic poultry, and 
dusting themselves. When disturbed they run rapidly away, not in 
difi'erent directions, but all keeping much together; they rise at once 
before a dog, getting up with a great flutter, but when once well on the wing 
fly with a strong and rapid flight ; they seldom alight again under a couple 
of hundred yards, and usually on the ground, when they immediately start 
running.^'' 
E. ignitus from Borneo is an allied species, differing in having the sides 
of the body pale chestnut marked with black. E. prmlatus from Siam 
and Cochin China has a considerable portion of the plumage of a remark- 
able ash-colour or bluish grey, and the feathers of the rump are black 
margined with crimson. It is extremely likely to occur in the hill-ranges 
of North-eastern Burmah; for it has been procured in the Shan States. 
E. erythrophthalmus, from the Malay peninsula, may extend up to Tenas- 
serim. The male has the plumage black, with the rump red and the tail 
rich buff ; the female is remarkable for possessing long spurs (like the male), 
and the whole plumage is more or less dark green. 
VOL. II. 
