56 PHASIANIN^. 



feathers with a large fulvous tip edged with dull black and white spotted ; tail 

 black, unspotted towards the tip, but barred with white, brown for the greater 

 part of its length ; beneath, the throat and neck below the wattle vivid scarlet, 

 passing into flame colour and yellow on the lower part of the neck ; breast and 

 lower parts black, dashed with dull red, and each feather with a round white 

 spot ; thigh coverts mottled black and brown, paler and yellowish near the 

 joint. Bill blackish ; irides hazel brown ; orbits bright red ; fleshy horns pale 

 blue; gular wattles purple in the middle, spotted and edged with pale blue 

 and fleshy on the sides ; legs and feet fleshy. 



Length. — 27 to 29 inches ; wing I V2^ ; tail lo'S to 1 1 ; tarsus 3. 



The female has the head and all the upper parts mottled with dark and light 

 brown and blackish with small pointed streaks of pale yellow ; quills and tail 

 dark brown, minutely mottled and barred ; under surface light ashy brow^n, 

 powdered with blackish and marked with irregular spots of white; fleshy horns 

 and wattles absent. 



Hab. — Western borders of Nepaul to the extreme N.-W. Himalayas. It is 

 found about Simla and Mussoorie, but more abundant near Almora. It is not 

 a very rare species, and is very easily reared in captivity, as well as easy to 

 shoot. They feed chiefly on berries, but insects also form part of their food. 

 They begin to pair in April. Eggs have been obtained in May at from 8,000 

 to 11,000 feet elevation. They are, according to Hume, elongated ovals 

 considerably compressed towards the small end, and about the size of the 

 Qgg of the INIonaul. The shell is devoid of gloss, and vary in colour from 

 a pale ca/e au lait to a dull reddish buff. Size from 2-4 to 2-55 by r68 

 to 172. 



Ceriornis Blythi, Jerd., J. A. S. Beng., 1 870, p. 60 ; Gould, B. Asia vii. 

 pi. 47, is another species of which much is not known. It is said to 

 occur in the Naga and Assam hills : the forecrown and occiput is black ; 

 lores, orbital region, cheeks, chin, throat and nude parts adjoining golden 

 yellow ; back of the head, neck all round and breast bright brick red or lake ; a 

 black post orbital and gular band ; upper surface of the body rich maroon red, 

 with white ocelli on a black ground at the tip of each feather ; flanks more 

 yellowish ; belly grey ; tail dark brown. 



Gen. Iih.2igvn.i^—Wagkr, 



Bill short, stout ; tail of 14 feathers ; tarsus of male with several spurs ; 

 head sub-crested ; neck feathers elongated. 



72. Ithaginis cruentUS [Hardiv), Gould, B. Asia, pt. iii. 

 pi. 3 ; Jerd., B, Ind. iii. p. 522, No. 807 ; Elliott, Moti. Phas. i. pi. lO ; 

 Hume and Marsh., Game Bij-dsi. p. 155. Phasianus cruentus, Hardw., Linn. 



