PHEASANTS. 



217 



parts arc l)lack, glossed with deep blue ; tlie tail and long coverts black, with blue and 

 green rt'flfctions. Tlie bare skin of th(' face is crimson; the legs and feet red. The 

 silver-pheasants, of which the well-known U. nycthemerus of China is typical, are 

 large birds with the entire upper parts and tail white, and all the feathers are more or 

 less minutely mottled with black. The Chinese species exhibits more white than any 

 of the others, and the two central tail-feathers are nearly pure white, the breast and 

 under parts bluish black. Besides China, these birds are natives of Burmah and 



IG. 102. — Euplocamus nyctliemenu, sUver-pbeasant. 



]>arts of India. They are forest-loving birds, 

 ng as high as three thousand to four thousand 

 3n the mountains, apparentlj- omnivorous, feed- 

 in insects, grain, seeds, etc., not gregarious, 

 uyriv ^. ,/ /, - > .uKi Hiicn disturbed utter a peculiar clicking sound. 



\M NiV •'^ '"'^ ' " 'l"' '" They are ]>ugnacious, and the males are continually 



fighting. The E. lineatus breeds in March, the hen 

 laying seven or eight ]i;ile-ycll<)wish egss, minutely 

 pitted all over, in a slight hollow in the ground, thinly lined with leaves and a few 

 feathers. The third division contains tlie kalij or kaleege jdieasants, as the term is vari- 

 ously spelled. Thev inhabit parts of India, Xepal, Bliotan, Sikkiin, Assam, Arakan, etc., 

 are four .species — j)ossibly more — in numln-r, with long pendant ci'osts, ui)per )iarts<if 

 a generally glossy black plumage in some s)U'cies, with the rump feathers margined with 

 white ; breast and flanks covered with buffy-white lanceolate feathers. One species, K. 

 hor/ifiildi, has the under ]parts bluish-black, like the back. The tails arc generally of .1 

 bluisb-black color. These birds range from the foot of the liills to eight thousand 



