File:Fancy pheasants and their allies (1901) (20176745704).jpg

Title: Fancy pheasants and their allies
Identifier: cu31924090299839 (find matches)
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Finn, Frank, 1868-1932
Subjects: Pheasants
Publisher: London, The Feathered world
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Tragopans and Monauls. 15 some food for them, and soon retreating under this curious natural umbrella. Another interesting point in the habits of this pretty Pheasant is the display of the cook. Being' anxious to show his mate tliat he has all his eyes about him; so to speak, he displays himself sideways, lifting one wing, and lowering the other, and spreading his tail, which he tilts up on a slant till it is level with the slanted wings, thus giving as good a view as possible. This is the commonest and best known of the Peacock Pheasants, as might be expected from its Indian habitat, but the London Zoo has possessed two other species, both
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Amherst P/ieasaixTs. surpassing the present in beauty, handsorne though it is. These are : Germain's Peacock-Pheasant (Polyplectron germaini), which has a darker head and red skin round the eye, while in the hen the eye spots are much better developed than in that of the common bird; and the Malayan Peacook-Pheasant(Po/«/p/e(;fro» bicalcaratum), whioli has the ground-colour of tlie plumage buflf thickly speckled with black, a red face, and the crest of the male tipped with purplish gi-een. This species, as its name implies, comes from the Malayan Peninsula; Germain's from Cochin Cliina. The Peacock-Pheasants certainly deserve to be better known. Their beauty, in the combination of bright spots with a soberly-coloured ground, is quite peculiar to them, and as they are the smallest of tne Pheasants they are peculiarly suitable for aviaries. The other species are even more brilliant than those I have mentioned, and I hope that before long we shall have opportunities of seeing these alive, but they seem very scarce at present, even as museum specimens. CHAPTEE IV. TRAGOPANS AND MONAULS. The Tragopans, often miscalled Argus Pheasants by sportsmen in India, are not really related to the true Argus, but form a very distinct and easily recognisable group. They are as big as a good-sized fowl, and of rather heavy make, with drooping tails, shaped some- what like a common hen's ; the legs and feet are rather long and slender, and the bill very small. The males are larger than the females, and have a pair of short spurs, they also have the face and throat bare or only thinly feathered, and possess a pair of fleshy horns on the head and an expansible dewlap on the throat. Both these appendages are much better developed at the breeding season than at other times, and they are not ordinarily noticeable, the horns, in particular, commonly lying hid in the full crest pos- sessed by the male, which usually lies fiat, and does not alter the outline of the head- feathering. When he displays himself to the hen, however, the horns rise erect, and the dewlap expands longitudinally and transversely into a great bib or apron, decorated with the most brilliant colours, but the display does not last long. The Tragopau cock, however, has two strings to his how, and also displays his plumage alone by a method very com- mon in this family. The plum- age is raised on one side of the body and lowered on the other, in a heroic attempt to show the hen both sides at once! The said plumage is well worth displaymg, as it is a wonderful combination of bright hues with delicate markings and shading, very difl&cult to describe fully. Fortunately, however, the general characteristics thereof are easily conveyed in a few words. The upper plumage is intricately speckled with black and brown, more or less intermixed with red, and

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