HOUWINK’S EXPER. CONC. THE ORIGIN OF SOME DOMESTIC ANIMALS 263 
rather long feathers which, however, are much broader than those 
of bankiva, these feathers are black in the middle and have a beau- 
tiful violet or purple gloss, they have a border or fringe of a beau- 
tiful goldstone-colour. The lower part of the collar is typically phea- 
sant-like, the feathers which compose it being truncate instead of 
pointed, the goldstone fringe of the upper part of the mantle dis- 
appears more and more the further down we get until it is almost 
absent at the lower end of the collar, the feathers of this part ha- 
ving only a very narrow fringe at the tip. With the exception of 
the fringe, the colour of the feather is a deep purple, as are the 
central parts of the feathers of the upper part of the collar. 
Ina certain light this purple has, in addition, a green gloss. If we com- 
pare this collar with that of varius, we notice that the bronce-colou- 
red zone which is present there a little above the tip, has disappeared 
and that the beetle-green, so typical of the varius-collar, has disappea- 
red also. The whole collar makes the impression of a pheasant collar, it 
leaves the breast partly free and this free part has, when the bird stret- 
ches its neck, a distinctly triangular shape, with the acute top of the 
triangle turned towards the median wattle. 
In this triangular part, the feathers which, on the rest of the ventral 
side of the animal, are black with a greensish metallic gloss, have partly 
a narrow brown border, which is best developed at the broad lower side 
of the triangle, thus differentiating it clearly from the ordinary breast- 
and belly-feathers which have no such brown margin. | 
The back. The feathers of the back are intermediate in shape between 
the pheasant-like feathers of the collar, and those of the saddle; 
the latter are very pointed, just as those of bankiva. Both the 
feathers of the back and those of the saddle have their central part 
purple black with a metallic gloss, giving to the whole animalits 
magnificent colour, while their margins have the colour of gold- 
stone. 
Breast and belly. With the exception of the triangular part described, 
the feathers of the ventral surface are black with a greenish gloss. 
Under the wings they are fringed with brown. 
Wing. At the shoulder the wing is covered by black feathers with a 
violet gloss and a brown shaft ; further down these feathers develop 
a brown border and gradually pass into the marroon shoulder, 
coverts, which have some black at their base; where they touch the 
