. Bird lore . s him ahead of his consort and then, with a beautifulsweep of his long tail, he wheels in front of her and at the same instant liftsand spreads the most beautiful fan that nature has ever conceived. It is nowonder that he is venerated by the inhabitants of his native jungle. The Peacock belongs to the Pheasant family, the males of all of which arenoted for their brilliant plumage and their curious displays. The display ofthe Golden Pheasant, a native of western-central China and conspicuous inevery aviary, is shown in the accompanying photographs. Even when at resthe is a gorgeou
. Bird lore . s him ahead of his consort and then, with a beautifulsweep of his long tail, he wheels in front of her and at the same instant liftsand spreads the most beautiful fan that nature has ever conceived. It is nowonder that he is venerated by the inhabitants of his native jungle. The Peacock belongs to the Pheasant family, the males of all of which arenoted for their brilliant plumage and their curious displays. The display ofthe Golden Pheasant, a native of western-central China and conspicuous inevery aviary, is shown in the accompanying photographs. Even when at resthe is a gorgeous bird with his scarlet breast, his brilliant yellow back borderedby red, his emerald-green shoulders, his bright orange cape banded with purple,his silky yellow crest, and his long flowing tail. But when, like the peacock,he takes a little run ahead of the female, spreads his fan-like cape, apparentlyshifting all of his brilliant feathers to her side of his body, and opens his arched The Audubon Societies 171. GOLDEN PHEASANTNormal pose. The specialized feathers of the cape and tail are relatively inconspicuous tail, splashing it with the red of his upper tail-coverts, one wonders how hissomber-colored mate can ever resist. His brilliant yellow eye gleams over thetop of the cape, but it gets no response from her, for she either appears per-fectly unconcerned or she dodges back without so much as giving him a display of the Lady Amherst Pheasant is very similar, but the numerousother species have each their characteristic courtships which are easily watchedin an aviary or on a game-farm. I was once fortunate enough to watch a wildRing-necked Pheasant displaying before its mate. He began by pecking theground as if to attract her attention and then followed a little stamping. Withhis head still down, the wing toward the female was lowered to the groundcarrying the spotted flank feathers with it. The tail was then spread and theback feathers shifted, as in the display o
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