COMMON OR WHITE-CRESTED KALIJ 183 



It especially affects hills, but must always have cover, and hence 

 its absence from the north of the island is not surprising, as the 

 jungle there is too open for its tastes. In many places it is quite 

 abundant, and is always found in small coveys, which, as Legge 

 suggests, are no doubt families. The cock calls a scattered 

 covey together by a pipe like a turkey-chick's, which changes to 

 a louder whistle as the birds get an answer or become more 

 confident. The cocks are very quarrelsome with each other, 

 and, as in the other species, have several spurs, while the hens 

 are also spurred as a rule. 



Layard considered this bird very good eating, and much 

 resembling grouse ; it weighs about twelve ounces if a cock, but 

 the hens are about three ounces lighter. The four creamy eggs 

 have been found in February, May, July, and October ; they are 

 laid on the ground in forest. 



Common or Whitc-crcstcd Kalij. 



*Gen)iceus albocristatus. Kalij, Hindustani. 



Of the narrow-crested, fowl-tailed, red-faced, black and white 

 hill pheasants known as kalijes, the present is the best known, 

 occupying as it does, a great range from the borders of Afghanistan 

 to those of Nepal, and being seen near the ways and works of 

 men more than any other pheasant. From all his relatives 

 and from all other Indian game birds, the cock's long but 

 skimpy white crest will distinguish him; the blue-black of his 

 upper parts gets very rusty about the shoulders, and is diversified 

 by white bars lower down the back ; underneath he is of a very 

 soiled white and whity-brown, the feathers here being long and 

 pointed, as in all these white-breasted kalijes. His whitish 

 legs are spurred. 



The hen is of a type very distinctive of this group. She is 

 crested and red-faced like the cock, and has the tail but little 

 shorter. Her brown plumage, though with pale edges, is only 

 really diversified by the black outer tail feathers. 



* Euplocamus on plate. 



