Y tm «y— 5 rivet

 

EUPLOCAMUS SWINHOLI, Gowia.

Swinhoe’s Fireback.

/ Euplocamus Swinhott, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1862, p. 284.—Sclat. in Proc. of Zool. Soc, L863, p: 119——
Swinh. in Ibis, 1863, p. 401.

 

Few of Her Majesty’s Consuls have more assiduously availed themselves of the opportunities afforded them
of collecting the birds of the distant regions in which they have been located than Mr. Swinhoe ; and fewer
still have shown greater acumen in discriminating and poiting out the distinctions which separate nearly
allied species. It is but a just tribute, then, to the merits of this gentleman, that so remarkable and beautiful
a bird as the one here figured should be named in his honour. The discovery of a small Warbler, or a new
species of Finch, would not be destitute of interest ; but how much more important is the acquisition of a
highly ornamental addition to the Gallinacee! The two specimens, male and female, collected by Mr. Swin-
hoe in the little-known Island of Formosa are now in the British Museum, and are well worthy of the mspec-
tion, not only of the ornithologist, but of every lover of nature.

In size, this new bird is somewhat smaller than the Common Silver Pheasant (Genneus nychthemerus), which
it resembles in its red wattles and in the form of its tail ; while in its strong legs and the scaly, stiff feathers of
the lower part of its back it more closely assimilates to the members of the genus Euplocamus, and with
that group I have accordingly associated it.

After stating that the true Pheasant inhabiting the Island of Formosa is identical with the Chmese Phasi-
anus torguatus, Mr. Swinhoe says :—

«T was informed by my hunters that a second species of Pheasant, which was denominated by the Chinese
colonists Wa-koé, was found in the interior mountains; that it was a true jungle-bird, frequenting the wild
hill-ranges of the aborigines. and rarely descending to the lower hills that border on the Chinese territory ;
and that in the evening and early morning the male was in the habit of showing himself on an exposed branch,
or roof of a savage’s hut, uttering his crowing, defiant note, while he strutted and threw up his tail like a rooster.
I offered rewards and encouraged my men to do their utmost to procure me specimens of this bird, and I
was so far successful that I managed to obtain a pair ; but, in my trip to the interior, it was in vain that I
sought to get a view of it in its native haunts, and to make acquaintance with it in a state of nature.

‘The female was brought to me on the Ist of April, soon after it was shot,—the heat of the weather com-
pelling the hunters to skin it before they could reach me. It was, however, quite fresh enough to enable me
to note the tints of the soft parts.”

The male has the forehead black, gradually blending into the snowy white lanceolate plumes which form
a slight crest, and continue in a narrow line down the nape of the neck; back snowy white, offering a strong
contrast to the narrow black line with which it is bounded on each side, and the rich fiery chestnut of the scapu-
laries ; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts intense velvety black, broadly margined with
shining steel or bluish black, these scale-like feathers gradually becoming of a larger size and of a more
uniform black as they approach the tail-feathers; wings blackish brown, the greater and lesser coverts
fringed with green; two centre tail-feathers snow-white, the remainder black; the somewhat elongated
feathers of the chest and flanks black, with shining blue reflexions; thighs and under tail-coverts dull
black; sides of the face wattled to an extent seldom seen even among Gallinaceous birds, in front
extending to the nostrils, while posteriorly it terminates in a point near the occiput; a large lappet
hangs down over each cheek, and a more pointed one rises, in the form of a horn, high above the crown,
the whole being of the finest crimson, and covered with papillz, as in the Genneéus nychthemerus ; legs
bright pink-vermilion ; soles a light, dirty ochreous ; toes the same, patched with blackish.

The female offers a strong contrast to the male, from there being no appearance of acrest, and in the entire
plumage being reddish or orange-brown, particularly the under surface; when examined in detail, however,
many different but harmonizing tints are seen on the various parts of the body; on the back of the neck,
apularies, and lesser wing-coverts, the freckled brown feathers have lanceolate or spearhead-shaped
rounded with black down their centres, while the rump and upper tail-coverts are more
uniformly and more finely freckled with orange and dark brown ; primaries alternately barred on both sur-
faces with chestnut and dark brown; secondaries dark brown, conspicuously barred with ochre-yellow ; throat
chest orange-brown, each feather with two crescentic markings of dark brown ; centre of the

mantle, sc
markings sur

 

brownish grey 5

abdomen and thighs orange-brown, slightly freckled with darker brown ; two centre tail-feathers dark brown,

obscurely barred with buff; lateral tail-feathers nearly uniform deep chestnut ; naked patch on cheek red.
The Plate represents the male and female, the former about two-thirds of the natural size.