Volume 5, Plate VIII / Ornithology (Birds)

Argus Pheasant, or Gigantic Argus

Argus giganteus

No larger than an ordinary fowl in body, the Argus reaches five feet three inches to the tips of its long tail feathers, with secondaries near three feet that nearly deprive it of flight. Its chaste reddish-brown plumage is spotted with yellow and black, the immense wings displaying ocellated markings; native to Sumatra and Malacca, it feeds on the ground and gains full beauty after the fourth moult.