THASIANIDAE 2 29 



and a black mark down the fore-neck. The members nf this 

 genus frequent cultivated country, grassy desert-hills, and scrul)- 

 covered ground, up to sixteen thousand feet ; they are unsusY)icious 

 in quiet parts, l)ut such is not the case in England. They 

 run and fly far and fast, but are exceptionally hard to flush, 

 trusting almost entirely to their feet, and occasionally when hard 

 pressed resorting to trees. The loud note may be syllabled 

 chuk-chuk-chukar-chukar ; the food consists of leaves, fruits, seeds 

 and insects ; the nest is a scantily-lined excavation, containing 

 from seven to fourteen yellowish-white eggs with reddish specks 

 or Ijlotches. The pugnacious males are used by the Cypriots to 

 attract their wild kindred ; but in Britain they have been said 

 — probably in error — to drive away the Common Partridge. 



Tetraoijallvs tihetanvs, the Til)etan " 8now-Cock " or " Snow- 

 Pheasant," is dark grey alcove, with buff' markings towards the 

 wings and riunp, and Idack vermiculations ; the under parts 

 are white, with a grey pectoral band and black streaks pos- 

 teriorly. There is a yellowish naked patch behind the eye, the bill 

 is orange, and the feet are red. The sexes are similarly coloured, 

 but the male has a pair of strong blunt spurs. The range 

 extends from East Turkestan to West China, where 2\ henrici 

 occurs, with a grey chest. T. liimcdayensis, found from the 

 Himalayas to the Hindu Kush and the Altai Mountains, has the 

 pectoral band and a patch on each side of the head and nape 

 chestnut, the chest wdiite with black bars, the orbits yellow, the 

 bill dusky, and the feet orange. T. raspivs, extending from the 

 Taurus to Transcaspia and South Persia, has the upper breast 

 grey with black spots, and lacks the chestnut on the head ; T. 

 cavcasicus of the Caucasus has the occiput and nape rufous, and 

 the chest black and buff; T. altairvs of the Altai range has the 

 last spotted with white, but no white l)ases to the secondaries 

 as in the two preceding forms. These large active birds haunt 

 stony hill-sides above the forest-zone and near the" snow-line, 

 being gregarious, yet keeping in pairs; they are wild and wary, 

 fly straight and swiftly, utter shrill whistles or cackling notes, 

 and feed upon insects, ])uds, roots, grass, moss, and fern. From 

 six to nine yellowish or olive eggs with reddish or purplish spots, 

 generally one-third larger than those of the Capercaillie, are laid 

 in a hollow in the s(nl, sheltered by a stone or overhanging tuft. 



Tetraophasis ohsruru.^ of East Tibet is in both sexes brownish- 



