File:Indian sporting birds (1915) (14563940400).jpg

Identifier: indiansportingbi00finn (find matches)
Title: Indian sporting birds
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Finn, Frank, 1868-1932 Hume, Allan Octavian, 1829-1912 Marshall, Charles Henry Tilson, 1841-
Subjects: Birds -- India Game and game-birds -- India
Publisher: London : Francis Edwards
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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d colour of the rest of theplumage except for the blue-black underparts and crest. Theblack pencilling is regular, but extremely fine and inconspicuousexcept on the wings and side tail-feathers. The crest droops asin the white-crested or common kalij, but is far fuller than inthat or any other species. The legs are red as well as the facein both sexes. The hen has a short crest, hardly noticeable, andblack; and perfectly plain brown plumage, the only markingsbeing irregular black and white pencilling on the outside tailfeathers. Young birds have this pencilling on the breast, andthe cock, which does not get his full colour till the secondyear, goes through a most peculiar series of changes before andwhile moulting into it, the feathers appearing to change colourwithout a moult to some extent. A maturing specimen of thissex might easily be referred to half a dozen species at varioustimes, as species have been reckoned in this group. The form known as Andersons silver pheasant (Gennceus
Text Appearing After Image:
^ ^^ i- ^ •^ FIRE-BACK PHEASANT 193 andersoni) from the Kachin Hills and the Ruby Mines, seemssimply to be a hybrid between this bird and the lineated kalij;bat the bird figured by Hume as Crawfords silver pheasant(EiLplocamus andersoni on plate) seems to me the same bird witha further cross of the lineated. As further intermediate formsoccur between these half-silver pheasants and the purple kalij, andas that bird also undoubtedly grades into the lineated kalij wheretheir ranges approach, through more interbreeding, it will beseen that it is very difficult to draw any lines between all theseblack-breasted kalijes, silvered or plain ; and we may ultimatelyhave to come to the astonishing conclusion that they are all ofthe same species, of which the type will have to be the Chinesesilver pheasant, as the oldest kind known. Firc-back Pheasant. *Lophura rufa. Mooah-mooah, Malay. The splendid fire-back pheasant, distinguished from all othermembers of the kalij group, to wh

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