This journal simply cannot have enough galliformes, can it? That is probably so because many birds (usually the males) look like little works of art. You can just picture the golden pheasants (Chrysolophus pictus) up there being in a museum painting (or a fantasy RPG...take your pick). Again, the females are far more drab than the fellows above.
The males, however, look almost like colorful fish (Betta splendens, I'm looking at you). Though native to China, they are frequently seen in aviaries and gardens in Europe. Many captive specimens are impure(mixed with Lady Amherst's pheasant), but no less pretty. ;)
(Also, galliforme entries are short!)
OK this was really weird, because before I saw this entry I had spent rather a long time looking up ref pictures of galliformes for no particular reason (whilst looking for John Gould illustrations, to be specific, then getting trapped in the ToL web.)
ReplyDeleteI was even gonna suggest it to you since it struck me very suddenly how much psychedelic, bizarre color patterns are found in, basically, chickens!
I assume you're also familiar with the Argus pheasant.
Just saving up a bunch of pictures for color/pattern reference... feathers are really amazing aren't they? Makes you wonder how much color variation the small theropods may have had.
Yes! Galliformes have an amazing variety of patterns that make for interesting, entries, even though I have to repeat the usual "males are pretty, females suck" song and dance with every entry. I swear, next bird will be the Harpy Eagle...just to flip the tables a little. ;)
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen Yokohama or phoenix chickens? DAMN!