71 
PHASIANUS. 
with a rufous cream-colour, and marked on each fide the 
lhaf't with numerous bars of black, between feventy and 
eighty bars in all ; thofe on the oppofite fides of the (haft 
feldom correfponding with each other. 
4. Phafianus ny&hemerus, the (liver pheafant: filver- 
white, with black bread and belly. This exceeds the 
common pheafant in fize. The bill and irides yellow; 
fides of the head covered with a carunculated crimfon 
bare (kin, which rifes upwards above each eye, giving the 
appearance of horns, and in fome birds hangs lo deep 
below on each fide of the jaw, as to appear like wattles : 
the head is crefted, and is, as well as all the under parts 
of the body, of a full purplifh back : the upper parts are 
white, and each feather marked with three or four lines 
one within another, all parallel to thenv.rgin ; the tail is 
cuneiform, the feathers obliquely ftriated with black, ex¬ 
cept the two middle ones, which are plain white; the legs 
are red, and furniflied with a fpur behind, of a white co¬ 
lour. See fig. 3. 
The female is fomewhat fmaller. The bill is brown; 
the irides yellow brown; the eyes lurrounded with a red 
(kin, which is narrower and lefs bright than in the male: 
the head is a little crefted, and brown ; throat and cheeks 
whitifti; the neck, back, breaft, rump, and wing-coverts, 
rufous brown ; the lower part of the breaft, belly, and 
other parts beneath are white, irregularly mixed with 
brown, and crofted with tranfverle black bands ; greater 
quills blackifii ; fecondaries like the back ; thofe neareft 
the body dotted with white; tail (horter than in the 
male; the two middle feathers brown, the others brown 
and white mixed, and ftriped obliquely with black ; legs 
red, without fpurs. This fpecies alfo inhabits China, and 
is likewife bred in our menageries. The eggs are of a pale 
yellowi(h afh-colour, with a blufli of red. 
5. Phafianus fuperbus, the fuperb pheafant : unarmed; 
colour rufous; varied with green and blue; caruncles of 
the front rounded; w'attles fubulate. The bill is red ; 
on the forehead is a red caruncle, fomewhat rounded in 
ftiape, and two wattles of a blood-red colour under the 
chin, as in the cock ; the crown of the head is green; 
at the hind part a folded creft, of a blue colour; the hind 
part of the neck is green; on each fide furniftied with 
long variegated feathers, which (land out from the neck, 
and turn backwards ; the flioulders are green, fpotted 
with white; the wings red; prime quills blue. The 
body is red ; tail long and cuneiform ; the feathers are 
blue and red mixed; and the coverts are of feveral co¬ 
lours, and fall over the fides of it; the legs are yellow, 
and not furniftied with fpurs. This is a bird defcribed 
by Linnaeus from the various reprefentations of it painted 
on paper-hangings and china-ware; and farther confirmed 
by a figure and defcription in a Chinefe book which came 
tinder his infpeftion. 
6. Phafianus ignitus, the fire-backed pheafant; black, 
with a Steel-blue glofs ; fides rufous; lower part of the 
back fiery-ferruginous ; two middle tail-feathers yellowifti 
brown. This bird is mentioned by fir George Staunton, 
in his Account of the British Embafiy to China. He fays 
it is a new fpecies, an inhabitant of Java, not hitherto 
known to Europe. We fufpedt it to be identical with 
the preceding fpecies, or at lead a variety of it, becaufe 
it has the red caruncle on the forehead, the two blood- 
red wattles under the chin, the folded creft, the red or 
fieri/ferruginous on the back, the blue on the wing-quills, 
or fides, and the variegated tail. Linnaeus’s bird being- 
only defcribed from figures on paper-hangings or china- 
ware, rauft have copied any errors of colour or conforma¬ 
tion, which might have been fallen into by the manufac¬ 
turers of thofe articles, who we know in general ftudy 
more the effect than the correftnefs of the animals re¬ 
presented. Tiiefe uncertainties, however, can only be 
decided by time, and more minute enquiry. 
7. Phafianus motmot, the motmot-pheafant: brown, 
beneath reddifti ; tail wedged, the lateral feathers rufous. 
This is nearly the fize of a common fowl: length eigh¬ 
teen inches. Head-feathers elongated, rufous; bill red¬ 
dish ; the head deep brown ; neck and upper parts olive- 
brpwn ; breaft, belly,'Sides, and thighs, rufous brown; 
under tail-coverts chefnut; quills, and two middle tail- 
feathers, like the back ; the reft of them blackiSh, except 
the outer, which is rufous: legs blackifii; claws brown. 
It inhabits Brafil and Guiana. 
8. Phafianus argus, the argus-pheafant: pale yellow' 
fpotted with black, face red, hind head crefted, blue. 
This is a large fpecies, being full the fize of a cock-turkey. 
The bill, like that of our pheafant, is of a pale yellow : 
the fore part of the head and the beginning of the throat 
are covered with a granulated Skin of a fine Scarlet co¬ 
lour; the irides are orange: round the eye the Skin is 
duSky, and a kind of black whiSker on each fide of the 
lower jaw; the top and hind part of the head and'neck, 
changeable blue; on the hind head a forked creft; 
the lower part of the neck, back, and wing-coverts, 
dufky, marked irregularly and tranfverlely with reddifh- 
brown ; the nine outer quills are pale yellow brown, 
marked with final! duSky fpots, as big as peafe on the 
outer, and fmaller fpots white on the inner, webs; the 
eleven remaining quills dark brown, marked with round 
and oblong fpotsonbotji webs; and on the outer, near the 
Shafts, a row of large eyes, from twelve to fifteen in number, 
the largeft an inch diameter, fomewhat refembling thofe 
of a peacock’s train : the throat, breaft, rump, and upper 
tail-coverts, dull orange, marked with round duSky fpots : 
the tail confifts of fourteen feathers ; the two middle 
ones are three feet in length; the next eighteen inches, 
and gradually Shorten to the outer ones, which are twelve 
inches only in length ; the colour duSky brown, dotted 
with white; and the two middle ones have round white 
fpots encircled with black on the outer, and brown irre¬ 
gular ones furrounded with dulky on the inner, webs: 
the lower belly and vent dulky, irregularly mixed with 
brown : the legs, like thofe of a turkey, are of a greenifii 
afh-colour. This inhabits China ; and is likewife com¬ 
mon in the woods of Sumatra, where it is called kuaow. 
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 eafe, and fometimes makes 
its note or call, from which it-takes its name; and which 
is rather plaintive. In a Malay poem, delcriptive of the 
birds of Sumatra, the argus-pheafant is thus Shortly but 
aptly charafterifed: “ In the fuperb and many-coloured 
kuaow, it is impoffible to difcover a Single fault Save one, 
the difficulty of pronouncing its name.” Linn. Tranf. 
vol. xiii.—This is reprefented on Plate III. fig. 4. 
9. Phafianus Impeyanus, the Impeyan pheafant: 
crefted; purple gloffy green, beneath black; feathers of 
the neck with a changeable luftre of gold, copper, and 
green ; tail entire, rufous. This is larger than a common 
fowl: length two feet. Bill brown, two inches lon°-, 
much curved, the upper mandible hanging considerably 
over the under, which is hid thereby: Space round the 
eye bare, and of a greenifii blue. On the head is an 
ereft creft, confiding of feventeen or eighteen feathers of 
different Sizes, the longeft three inches and a half; they 
confift of little more than fnafts, except at the end, where 
they are oval, with a fpear-fhnped point. The feathers of 
the neck are long and loofe, not u nlike thofe of a game¬ 
cock ; thofe on the head and throat are a green bronze ; 
on the middle of the neck purple, with a copper glofs, 
and the lower part of it a yellow gold bronze; all of them 
exceedingly brilliant, and changeable in different reflex¬ 
ions of light. The back and wing-coverts are rich purple, 
tipped with green bronze; prime quills black. The 
thighs and under parts of the body, from chin to vent, 
are dull black, with a greenifii glofs; the legs are fea¬ 
thered below the knees : tail brownish cinnamon-colour 
the end duSky, and rounded in Shape; legs ftout, rough, 
and fcaly ; the colour dark brown : toes long; between 
them, at the bafe, a Slight membrane : on the back part 
of the legs a thick Short fpur. See fig. 5, 
The 
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