TAB. LX VIII.
PHASIANUS STACEII.

Phas. stramineo-albus, supra frequenter, subtus parcé ngro fasciatus, dorso abdomineque inis

rufescentibus ; capite cristato fusco ; cauda fasctis latis nigris, ad basin interne rufis, ornata.

Longitudo corports ab apice rostri ad apicem caudze, 3 ped. 42 unc.

Tuis fine species, named in honour of 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 Phastanus Stacei is, indeed, one of those very interesting birds which, deviating
from the typical characters of neighbouring genera, serve at the same time as a connecting link between
them ; its long tail and general contour allying it to Phascanus, while its robust tarsus and its crested head
show an approaching affinity to Lophophorus and Euplocamus. In the Himalaya, though a country abounding
in this tribe of birds, the present species appears to be rare; few specimens having been observed in the
numerous collections that have lately been received from those parts. The female has not, as far as we are
aware, been sent to Europe, nor has any account of 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, except on the cheeks and throat, being
barred with black; the quill-feathers are marked with zigzag lines and are tipped with black ; the rump is
d brown, each feather having two spots of black near the tip; the tail is pale tawny, barred at regular
ow and a broad band of deep blackish brown ; the under surface is pale tawny, barred

rich re
distances with a narr
as the back; the bill and tarsi brown.
The figure is half the natural size.

 

 

 

 

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