OCR Text |
Show 1870.] MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON NEW PHEASANTS. 407 elsewhere, this separated from the broad chestnut margin by a line of black ; secondaries dark brown, mottled with buff and black, and very broadly margined with dark chestnut on the upper ones, the edges of rest yellowish brown ; primaries dark brown, irregularly barred with yellowish white on both webs; back and rump light green mottled with buff and dark green. Upper part of breast deep rich red, purple in certain lights, margined with dark blue, and a triangular spot of the same in the centre at the tip; flanks white, the ends of the feathers dark metallic blue; abdomen dark green separated from the white of the flanks by a line of deep chestnut composed of the inner webs of the lowest flank-feathers. Thighs black ; under tail-coverts red. Central tail-feathers pale green in the centre, chestnut on the edges, the green barred with broad black bands close together, these changing to chestnut on the edges ; lateral feathers similar, but mottled with buff and black on the inner webs, and terminal portion of the outer web without bars ; bill pale greenish yellow ; tarsi and feet brownish ; irides white. Length 14 inches ; wings 9^ in.; tail 12^ in.; tarsi 2£ in. ; middle toe If in. Female. Head pale buff, much blotched with black on the crown, and rosy on the cheeks ; upper part of back dark chestnut, with a terminal irregular bar of black and tipped with white ; rest of upper parts black, the feathers margined with reddish buff, and the shafts buff; tail buff, closely barred with black, and mottled on the edges with the same; wings lighter than the back, the buff being more prominent, but similarly marked; primaries dark brown, and barred with yellowish buff as in the male ; upper part of breast dark buff with a reddish tinge, some of the feathers with black longitudinal lines ; rest of underparts dark buff faintly mottled with brown. Length 13 in.; wing 8 in.; tail 8 in.; tarsus 2 in. ; bill 1| in. This is the common Pheasant of the Island of Formosa, and, although resembling the well known P. torquatus of China, differs from it, in both the sexes, by many and striking characteristics. The male differs from that of P. torquatus by the narrow ring on the neck, the conspicuously broad white superciliary stripe, the light-coloured mantle, the scapulars with their largely developed white centres free from mottling, the green rump (blue in its ally), the white flank-feathers, the broadly barred short tail, and by the white eye, which, as I am informed by Mr. Swinhoe, is a constant character. Some of the above-mentioned distinctions might be regarded by some as evidences of albinism ; and if there were but a single specimen marked, the supposition might be an important one; but all those brought by Mr. Swinhoe agree together in their markings, and he tells me that all of this form upon the island also agree with these types. The female possesses equally peculiar markings to distinguish her from the hen of P. torquatus, being much darker- in fact, almost black upon the upper parts. This species, although undoubtedly of the same origin as the P. torquatus, has, from the physical causes operating upon it peculiar to its island home, undergone in the course of time the changes |