i 
GUIDE TO THE 
ISO 
to sun-rise. It is very loud and can be heard a long 
way off. 
The visitor on leaving this verandah will return to the 
centre of the house, where, in the large south-west com¬ 
partment, 
Division No. 6—he will find the Argus Pheasant, 
Argus giganteus , the most magnificently feathered of 
all its kind ; the grouping of the colours and the designs 
on the feathers being in the most perfect taste, and 
without any approach to gaudiness. In this it far ex¬ 
cels the peacock, to which it is more closely allied in 
structure than to the true pheasants, both birds belong¬ 
ing to one sub-family, the Pavonine? , a section of the 
family Phasianidce. These birds when first brought to the 
Gardens were excessively timid. It has been found ex¬ 
tremely difficult to rear the young in the London Gardens 
where the species has bred. This pheasant occurs in the 
forests of the Malayan peninsula, and where there are 
open glades it congregates to feed, and the male to 
disport and display his plumage. 
Another of the Pavonince is also exhibited in this en¬ 
closure, viz., the beautiful bird, Polyplectron chinquis , one 
of the Peacock-pheasants, so called from the presence 
of metallic green or purple spots on their moderately 
long tails and on their wings, resembling the ocelli or 
eye-spots of a peacock’s tail. The colour of these birds is 
generally greyish brown. This species is found from 
Bhutan eastwards to Assam and thence into Burma. 
The visitor should now descend the steps leading down 
towards the lake, and walk round the south-western end 
of the house, so that he may view the following com¬ 
partments from the outside. The first of these is 
