THE HORNED PHEASANTS. 22 1 



Adult Male.— Crown and sides of the head black ; sides of the 

 crown and longer crest-feathers, mantle, and under-parts orange- 

 carmine; rest of upper-parts mostly olive-brown; all with a 

 rounded white spot, edged with black except on the belly, 

 at the end of each feather; wing-coverts edged with dark 

 orange-carmine ; tail black, marked with buff towards the base 

 of the feathers ; horns greenish-blue ; naked skin round the eye 

 and upper throat purplish-blue ; gular flap orange or salmon- 

 colour, with blue cross-bars. Total length, 26 inches; wing, 

 10-2; tail, 9-5; tarsus, 33. 



Adult Female. — Above black, mottled with buff, rufous-buff, 

 and sandy, and spotted with buff en the back and wings ; chin 

 and throat whitish or buff; under-parts sandy-buff, finely 

 mottled with black and with triangular whitish or buff shaft- 

 spots. Total length, 19-5 inches; wing, 9; tail, 7*1 ; tarsus, 2*9. 



Range. — The higher ranges of the Himalayas from Kumaon 

 and Western British Gurhwal, through Nepal and Sikhim to 

 Bootan. 



Habits. — Mr. Hume gives the following excellent account :— 

 11 In the summer they are to be found at elevations of from 

 8,000 to 10,000 feet, always in thick cover, by preference in 

 patches of the slender reed-like ringal bamboo, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of water. 



" Although always on hills near to or bordering on the snow, 

 they are never seen amongst it (except perhaps in winter), and 

 seem to shun it as much as the Blood Pheasant delights in it. 

 Even the Moonal will be seen high above the forest, well up 

 on grassy slopes, fringed with and dotted about with patches 

 of snow. But the Tragopan is essentially a forest bird, rarely, 

 if ever, wandering up towards the snow or into the open, and 

 though frequenting perhaps rather their outskirts than their 

 deeper recesses, it hardly ever voluntarily quits the shelter of 

 the woods and their dense undergrowth. 



" Except by chance, when you may come upon a male 



