THE BARRED-BACKED PHEASANTS. 



43 



the belly and flanks chesi7iui ; the middle tail-feathers grey, with 

 wide irregular mixed bars of chestnut and black, the following 

 pairs barred w^ith black, and the oiiterinost pai7's mostly blacky 

 greyish at tl e base. Total length, 33-5 inches ; wing, 8-5 ; tail, 

 20"6 ; tarsus, 2*5. 



Adult Female. — Differs chiefly from that of C. ellioti in having 

 the throat and fore-neck devoid of black. 



Eange. — Lushai, Manipur, and Chin Hills; recently obtained 

 near the Ruby Mines in Burma. 



Space unfortunately does not permit of my giving in full Mr. 

 A. O. Hume's excellent account [Stray Feathers, xi. pp. 461- 

 467 (1880)] of how he obtained the first known examples of 

 this beautiful Pheasant. The Manipur envoy, who acted as his 

 guide during his travels in the Maharaja's territories, was the 

 proud possessor of a plume of feathers which he w^as entitled 

 to wear as a mark of rank. Mr. Hume's experienced eye in- 

 stantly detected among this coveted decoration the tail-feathers 

 of a Pheasant with which he was unacquainted, and after endless 

 enquiries he ascertained that the bird was an inhabitant of the 

 pathless hill jungles of Eastern Lushai and the southern border 

 of Manipur, which had for long been subject to the ravages of the 

 Kamhows, a fierce tribe, who invariably killed everyone they 

 came across. Only one Manipuri of the many questioned had 

 once seen this bird alive in the Jhiri Valley near the Lushai 

 border ; to the Maharaja and others it was only known from 

 the tail-feathers which filtered into Manipur through the agency 

 of Kamhow refugees in Manipur. After much trouble, his 

 Manipur guide obtained the services of a party of these Kam- 

 how refugees, who had taken up their abode on the southern 

 borders of the Manipur territory, and in the Eastern Lushai 

 country, and by threatening to shoot the men of this party if 

 they did not return with some of the Pheasants in a short time 

 entire specimens were at last obtained. Mr. Hume goes on 

 to say, " Sure enou-h, within the week they returned with one 



