:i ' I l A .Y :I A > : ! AR T .‘X ' ‘ h', ;l I .
T a b . L X V I I I .
PH A S IA N U S STACEI I .
P h a s . s tram in e o -a lh is , s u p ra fr e q u e n te r , su b tu s p a r c e n ig ro fa s c ia tu s , dorso abdomineque im is
r u fe s c e n tib u s ; c a p ite c r is ta to fu s c o ; ca u d â f a s c i i s la tis n ig r is , a d basin in te rn e rufis, o rn a tâ .
L o n g itu d o corporis a b ap ic e ro s tr i ad a p ic em c a u dæ , 3 p e d . 4-i- u n c .
T his fine species, named in honour o f Major Stacey, to whose researches in India we owe the discovery of it,
although possessing many characters in common with the typical Pheasants, differs considerably from them in
several particulars ; its legs being shorter and thicker, and its head possessing a crest of which the true
Pheasant is destitute. The Phasianus Staceii is, indeed, one of those very interesting birds which, deviating
from the typical characters o f neighbouring genera, serve a t tlie same time as a connecting link between
them ; its long tail and general contour allying it to Phasianus, while its robust tarsus and its crested head
show an approaching affinity to Lophophorus iiwà Euplocamus. In the Himalaya, tboiigli a country abounding
in this tribe of birds, the present species appears to be r a re ; few specimens having been observed in tlie
numerous collections that have lately been received from those jiarts. Tbe female has not, as far as we are
aware, been sent to Europe, nor lias any account o f its habits and manners been hitherto transmitted to us.
The naked skin round the eye is bright scarlet ; the feathers of the crest and the remainder of the head
and neck are dull cinereous passing into tawny yellow, every feather, e.xcept on the cheeks and tliroat, being
barred with black ; the qiiill-featliers arc marked with zigzag lines and are tipped with black ; the rump is
rich red brown, each feather having two spots of black near the tip ; the tail is pale tawnv, barred at regular
distances with a narrow and a broad band of deep blackish brown ; the under surface is pale tawny, barred
as the ba ck ; the bill and tarsi brown.
D ie figure is half the natural size.