126 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



which may be translated the " Chicken of the Western king- 

 doms," signifying that it is pecuhar to the Chino-Thibetan 

 borderland. 



THIBETAN HAZEL-HEN 



This interesting bird {Tetrastes severtzovi) is fairly common 

 throughout the Chino-Thibetan borderland, where it frequents 

 the upper timber-belt, bordering the brush-clad moorlands. 

 Alpine woods of Larch, such as occur on the Ta-p'ao shan, 

 north of Tachienlu, is a favourite haunt of this bird. It is a 

 plump, rather small bird, fairly easy to shoot, and of excellent 

 flavour. In the male the upper-parts are brown, mottled 

 with black ; throat, black ; under-parts, whitish-grey ; chest, 

 mottled ; total length about 14I inches. Female similarly 

 coloured to the male, but without any black on the throat ; 

 total length, i2| inches. The dark, rich-brown general 

 colouring, darker and more distinct markings on the breast 

 and abdomen readily distinguish this bird from its near ally 

 the " Hazel-hen " of northern Europe. 



SNOW-COCK 



This denizen of upper alpine moorlands is rather rare and 

 very difficult to shoot, too difficult for me, in fact, and 

 though I have seen several I never succeeded in bagging a 

 specimen. At 14,000 to 16,000 one has very little breath to 

 spare, and a strong bird which prefers running and hiding 

 among rocks to flight has considerably the best of the contest. 

 As known to me, this bird {Tetraogallus henrici) is solitary 

 or in pairs, with a penchant for hiding amongst the boulders 

 of old moraines. The plumage of the back is grey, finely 

 vermiculated with pale buff; wing-coverts with large buff 

 and pale chestnut spots ; crown, ashy-grey with chestnut and 

 white markings on side of head ; throat, white ; chest, grey ; 

 abdomen, dark grey, striped chestnut on the sides ; total length, 

 20 to 22 inches. This bird is very solid, with a heavy, almost 

 vulture-like, beak. 



The only place I have seen this bird in is the neighbourhood 



