206 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



definite markings of any size ; she is quite easy to recognize, in 

 spite of her sonihre colour and absence of any crest or bare skin 

 round the eye. Young cocks show some red on the neck in their 

 first year, but do not come into colour till the next. The cock 

 is horned, crested, and dewlapped, as is always the case with 

 tragopans ; but the crest lies flat and the light blue fleshy horns 

 are generally concealed in it, while the dewlap is hardly visible 

 as a rule, just showing a fold of the richest blue skin on the bare 

 throat. The blue skin of the face is concealed by scanty black 

 feathering; and in having the face thus feathered this species is 

 unique among tragopans. Although, like our other well-known 

 tragopan, this species is often called argus, it is no more an argus 

 pheasant than it is a peacock ; indeed, it can hardly be called 

 a pheasant at all, being, like the monal, a member of a separate 

 group in the family, and quite as near the partridges as the 

 pheasants proper. The tail is somewhat hen-like, not long, and 

 slightly folded, and the general appearance is bulky and fowl- 

 like, though the legs and toes are rather long and slender, and 

 the bill particularly small. The bird is a large one, weighing 

 about four pounds in the case of cocks ; the hens are noticeably 

 smaller and do not weigh nearly three pounds. 



The crimson tragopan is confined to the Eastern Himalayas, 

 seldom straying west of the Alaknanda Valley in Garhwal, in 

 which state and in Kumaun it is known as Lungi ; it is well 

 known as far east as Bhutan, where its names are Omo and 

 Bap, the Lepcha name in Sikkim being Tarr liyak. It used to 

 be common near Darjeeling. 



Like tragopans generally, it is a true forest bird and seldom 

 seen, for it does not come out on to the grass slopes above the 

 forest as the monal so frequently does ; though, like that species, 

 it shifts its ground according to season, keeping near the limits 

 of woodland in summer, and descending in winter as low as 

 6,000 feet. It likes thick cover, and is especially fond of 

 that afforded by ringal, especially where water is at hand. It is 

 more of a tree-bird than pheasants generally, not only taking 

 refuge in trees from enemies and roosting on them at night, 

 but judging from the habits of captured specimens, keeping a 

 good deal in them at all times, and no doubt feeding on the 



