EUPLOCAMUS. 61 



Willi a purplish or brownish tinge. The female is of a light brown colour 

 throughout, each feather being tipped with pale whity brown ; chin whitish ; 

 lateral tail feathers dark brown. 



Length — iJ/rt/,?^'— 24 to 29 inches ; wing 87 to 10 ; tail i0"2 to 13; tarsus 

 29 to 3*1 ; bill from gape r3 to 1*55. Females — Length — 20 to 23 inches ; 

 wing 8 to 8*3 ; tail 7-8 to 9. 



Hab. — N.-W. Himalayas, as far as Nepaul in the westernmost portions, 

 Hume says, throughout the fairly-wooded lower and middle ranges of the 

 Himalayas from Kumaon to Hazara; also occurs in the Siwaliks, in some 

 places very abundantly. Usually three or four are found together, and some- 

 times as many as a dozen. It feeds on roots, grubs, insects, seeds and berries, 

 and the leaves and shoots of shrubs. Thick clumps of bushes near the banks 

 of rivers are its favourite haunts. It breeds everywhere in the Himalayas, 

 according to Hume, south of the first snowy range from the borders of 

 Afghanistan to those of Nepaul ; also in the Dhoon and at Simla from April to 

 June. There is no regular nest, except a pad, with a slight depression, made 

 of leaves, fine grass and coarse roots. Eggs, 9 to 14 in number, oval, mode- 

 rately elongated, a good deal pointed towards one end, glossy and closely 

 pitted with minute pores. In colour they vary from a pale creamy buff to a 

 rich reddish buff, often thickly speckled with minute white spots. Size from 

 1*85 to 2-03 X 1-25 to 1-52. 



76. EuplocamUS leilCOmelanilS {Lath.), Hume, Sir. F. vii. 

 p. 428; id. and Marsh., Game Birds Ind. i. p. 185; Murray, Avif, Brit. 

 Ind. ii. p. 541, No. 1 199. Phasianus leucomelanus, Lath., Lnd. Orn. ii. 

 P- 633. — The Nepaul Kalij. 



Differs from albocristatus in having a black crest and more narrowly white 

 tipped rump and upper tail coverts. Bill greenish horny ; irides dark brown ; 

 orbital skin fine crimson red and papillated ; legs and feet pale brownish. 



Length. — 23 to 26 inches ; wing 87 to 9-2 ; tail 10-9 to 12-3 ; tarsus 2*8 to 

 3-05 ; bill from gape 1-25 to 1-37. Females 19-3 to 20-5; ^ving 7-8 to 8-5 ; 

 tail 7'3 to 8-5 ; tarsus 2-3 to 2-9; bill from gape i-2 to 1*3. 



Hab. — Nepaul, ranging just inside the limits of British India. 



77. Euplocamus melanonotus {Biyth), Jerd., B. Lid. iii. 



p. 534; Hume, Str. F. v. p. 42 ; id., p. 124; id. and Marsh., Game Birds 

 Lid. i. p. 192 ; Murray, Avif. Brit. Lnd. ii. p. 541, No. 1200. — The Black- 

 backed Kalij. 



Differs from leucomelanus in having the rump and upper tail coverts 

 entirely black. Bill, legs and feet as in the last. 



Length.— 11 to 25 inches; wing 8-9 to 9-5; tail from vent 9-5 to 12-3; 

 tarsus 3-05 to 3-2 ; bill from gape 1-28 to 1-36. Females— Length.— 12, to 21 

 inches; wingS'i to 8-8; tail 7-5 to 8-6; tarsus 27 102-9; bill from gape 

 1-15 to 1-25. 



