KOKLASS PHEASANT 195 



There is no need to repeat this description, as the bird is so 

 distinct that if it does turn up in British territory it cannot be 

 mistaken for anything else ; but in it Hodgson seems to have 

 been curiously mistaken in two points. He says, first, nothing 

 at all about the curious erect white ear-tufts which the bird has 

 like the few other members of the Crossoptilum group — though 

 it must be admitted that they are shortest in this species — nor 

 does his drawing show them. He also describes the bird's tail 

 as " broadly convex, without any sign of the galline compression 

 and curve," the fact being that in all these eared pheasants the 

 tail is folded and fowl-like, with the top feathers curved, and 

 even looser-webbed than the rest. Hodgson's bird was got from 

 a Nepalese envoy who had been to Pekin, but it is now too late 

 to ask where he got it ! 



In China, according to Pere David, this bird inhabits bushy 

 localities and is very sedentary and sociable, even during the 

 breeding-season. Being poor eating, and respected by native 

 superstition, it has a better chance of survival than its near 

 relative, the only one usually seen in Europe, the brown 

 crossoptilum (C. mantcliuricum) which he regards as in danger of 

 extinction, owing to persecution and the cutting down of the 

 forests. The white crossoptilum has been exhibited at the 

 London Zoo, but I never saw but the one specimen. 



Koklass Pheasant, 



Pucrasia macrolopha. KoMas, Hindustani. 



Sometimes called the Pukras, from another native name 

 Pokras, this pheasant is very distinct in type from all our other 

 species ; the tail, though short for a pheasant, is pointed, and the 

 head provided with a long crest, in three portions, for only 

 the central part grows from the crown, two longer tufts proceed- 

 ing from the sides of the head, which is deep green in colour 

 except for the central crest, which is pale brown. Just where 

 the head joins the neck there is a long oblique white spot on each 

 side. 



The colour of the body-plumage, which is long and pointed,. 



