168 Major-General Harpwicxr’s Description 
influence of the English resident at Katmandoo (the Honour- 
able Edward Gardner), without which no single article, of 
however little value, is obtainable by strangers from that jealous 
people the Nepaulese. It is the only subject of its kind ob- 
tained during Dr. Wallich’s sojourning at Katmandoo : and as 
it appears to be an hitherto undescribed bird, it may also, from 
its scarcity at that place, be deemed a rare one in the country. 
In size this bird comes near to PAasianus cruentus, and mea- 
sures from the apex of the bill to the end of the tail 144- inches. 
The bill is black, short, robust, and the mandibles of nearly equal 
length (2ths of an inch), the upper one gently arched, the cul- 
men rounded ; the lower mandible straight, scoop-shaped, and. 
obtuse at the apex; the base of the upper mandible is covered 
with a carmine-coloured cere, in which the nasal apertures are 
seated. The eyes are surrounded with a narrow naked space of 
similar colour, the irides brown bordered by a narrow ring of 
black; the pupil black. "The legs are of a rufous brown: on 
the left is a single conical spur, with the rudiment or tubercle of 
another beneath it; but on the right leg neither of these appen- 
dages is evident. 
The prevailing colour of the plumage is a rust-coloured brown 
blended with extremely narrow undulated lines of black, which 
are most numerous on the back, wings, and tail, and producing 
there a darker shade. The breast, neck, and cheeks, are of à 
lighter rust-colour. About the head the feathers are a little 
larger; those on the crown gray, and longer, with divided webs, 
rising into a moderate-sized crest, which bend gently back- 
wards. The wings are short, reaching to about the roots of the 
tail-feathers; the coverts almost obscured by the softness and 
uniformity of the feathers. The tail, which consists of sub- 
equal rounded feathers, is slightly tapered at the end, and is in 
length about five inches. 
The 
