PHEASANTS. 



223 



The sub-family LOPHOPHORIN^E contains three genera, -Pucrasia, Ceriornis, and 

 JLophophorus. The species are inhabitants of India and Asia, and number about a 

 dozen in all. The pucras or koklass pheasants, by which trivial name the members of 

 P'ucrasia are known, are found in India and China. They are chiefly remarkable for 

 their long crests, the central one springing from the top of the head, and the narrow 

 occipital ones, on either side, and, at times, these are elevated above the other. They 

 have a general brown and gray plumage, marked in various ways with black, dark 

 brown, chestnut, and white, with the breast and lower parts more or less covered with 





FIG. 106. Meleagris ocellata, Central American turkey. 



* 



deep chestnut. They have broad cuneate tails, in one species at least (P. danoini} 

 elegantly marked and striped in gray, black, and chestnut. The habits of P. macro- 

 lopha have been thoroughly described by Indian naturalists, and those of the other 

 species, so far as known, closely resemble them. It is a forest bird, ranging from 4,000 

 feet to the extreme limits of forest on the Himmalehs, is of rather a solitary disposi- 

 tion, generally found singly or in pairs, except when the members of a brood are 

 together. When the cover is slight, it flushes at once or runs quickly, but otherwise 

 lies close. The flight is extremely rapid, and the bird shoots down a declivity like 



