MONAULS. 295 



evening, while feeding, it is difficult to get at them, as they are 

 very wary ; but during the heat of the day they are found lazily 

 reposing among the brushwood covers, and unwilling to rise. It 



-y?^m 



4' 



AN Pheasant {Lofhophorus Iinftyauns). 



is known when they are in any particular locality by the holes they 

 make in the ground in search of food, which consists of bulbous 

 roots and insects. The males are three years in attaining their 

 showy plumage : when first fledged they are scarcely distinguish- 

 able from the females. 



The only species — 



The Monaul or Impeyan Pheasant {Lophophorus Impeyanus), is 

 a splendid Indian bird, an inhabitant of the mountains of Nepal and the 

 Himalayas, and is never found on the plains; indeed, it seems to prefer a 

 temperature even below that of moderate. Its form is robust, and its food 

 consists principally of bulbous roots, which it rakes out of the ground with its 

 bill, the upper mandible of which is well adapted to such a purpose, as well 

 as for separating the concentric layers of which such bulbs usually consist. 

 The coloration of the male bird is particularly striking : its head and throat 

 glisten with metallic green ; the feathers of the lower part of the neck and top 



