THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 333 



Colours of Soft Parts. — ^Irides bro'wai ; bill pale yellow-green, or 

 horny-green, legs (not seen until the bird had been dead over 24 

 hours) dull pale greenish-lead colour. 



Measurements. —Wing 279' 4 mm., tail 192 ' 8 mm.; tarsus 71 * 1 mm.; 

 bill at front about 48 mm., and from gape about 50 '0 mm. There is 

 a short crest about 18 mm. in length. 



Distribution. — ^As far as we know at present Sclater's Moonal is a 

 bird of very restricted habitat. It is found only m the Hills North 

 of the Assam Valley from the extreme Eastern Dafla Hills to the East 

 of the Abor and Mishmi Hills. How far North it extends we do not 

 know, but it is undoubtedly found in Tibet North of the Hills men- 

 tioned as it was known to the Tibetants met \^ith by some of the 

 survey parties which were working N.-E. of the Dafla Hills after the 

 Abor Expedition of 1 901 . On the other hand it is not likely to extend 

 very far North-East as at Batong to Ta-chien-lu, over which country 

 several persons have worked, it was never met with and at the latter 

 place the next bird L. Vhuysii was recorded as common. On the 

 other hand Oates' prophecy that it would be found sooner or later 

 in some of the Northern Burmese Hills has been fulfilled as Beebe met 

 with it in North- Western Yunnan close to the Burmese 

 Frontier. 



General Habits. — ^There is at present nothing on record about these 

 fine pheasants beyond the fact that they are supposed to haunt the 

 higher wooded hills of Eastern Assam. Durmg the five years I lived 

 in Dibrugarh and Sadiya I made the closest inquiries after it as Col. 

 Chatterton and I hoped to combine the pleasure of shootmg the 

 Takia and Lophophorus sclateri in one trip. The natives assured 

 us that this was quite possible and pointed out to us certain peaks 

 and ranges about 9,000 feet high to which both bird and mammal 

 resorted in winter, the nearest of which ranges being within 24 hours 

 work of the Plains and our furthest military out-post. At this time, 

 however, the frontier was in a very disturbed state and our trip fell 

 through. Later on after I had left the district Col. Chatterton was 

 sent up with a military expedition and did actually come across both 

 Takin and Sclaters Moonal quite close to one another. The latter 

 were in very dense forest at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, the 

 undergrowth being very thick except where broken up by rocks. 

 Where the birds were the trees were princij)ally oak and rhododen- 

 dron, but there were also stretches of the most magnificent pine trees 

 and here and there open spaces on the steep mountaui-sides covered 

 with short, thick grass and bracken or moss and lichen covered 

 slabs of grey rock. 



At the time Col. Chatteiton came across them several birds were 

 together, apparently young and two or three old hens but no cock 

 bird. They were very shy and though they allowed a comparatively 

 close approach they kept out of sight and shot so that except for a 



