518 birds of india. 



The Simla Horned Pheasant. 



Descr, — Male, head black, the crest tipped with red ; nape, buck, 

 and sides of neck, dark-red ; back and upper parts dark brown, 

 minutely barred irregularly with black, each feather with a round 

 white spot on a deep black ground ; shoulder of wing dark red ; 

 quills blackish, with brown mottlings and bars, and some dusky olive 

 spots on some of the wing-coverts; tertiaries mottled like the back, 

 and with the scapulars, having a large white spot ; upper tail- 

 coverts lengthened, the lateral feathers with a large fulvous tip edged 

 dull black, and white spotted ; tail black, unspotted towards the tip, 

 but barred wdth whity brown for the greater part of its length ; 

 beneath, the throat and neck below the wattle are vivid scarlet, 

 passing into flame colour and yellow on the lower part of the neck, 

 these feathers being of a hard, firm, andj somewhat horny texture ; 

 the breast and lower parts black, dashed with dull red, and each 

 feather with a round white spot ; the thigh-coverts mottled black 

 and brown, paler and yellowish near the joint. 



Bill blackish ; irides hazel brown ; naked orbits bright red, two 

 fleshy horns pale blue ; the gular wattle purple in the middle, 

 spotted and edged with pale blue, and fleshy on the sides ; legs and 

 feet fleshy. Length 27 to 29 inches ; extent 37 ; wing 11;^ ; tail 

 10^ to 1 1 ; tarsus 3 ; weight 4|- lbs. 



The female has the head and all the upper parts mottled with 

 dark and light brown and blackish, with small pointed streaks of 

 pale yellow ; quills and tail dark brown, minutely mottled and 

 barred ; the lower parts light ashy brown, very minutely pow- 

 dered with blackish, and marked with irregular spots of white, 

 very strongly so on the breast, less so on the abdomen, and be- 

 coming more ashy. The horns and fleshy wattles also are absent. 

 Length about 24 inches ; extent 32 ; wing 10 ; tail 9 ; legs and 

 feet greyish ashy. 



The young male is at first colored like the female ; in the 

 second year the head and neck become red, and the white spots 

 appear ; and in the third year, he gets the full plumage. In Hard- 

 wicke's Illustrations there is the figure of a young male in the second 

 year called Fhas. melanocephalus, female ; and in Gould's Century, 



