THE AMERICAN MOUNTAIN-PHEASANTS. 219 
de Fuego. Previous to 1860, only about seven specimens were 
known, but in that year Mr. Osbert Salvin, under the guidance 
of one José Ordofiez, a hunter from Dueiias, paid a visit to the 
spot. José had on several previous occasions succeeded in 
shooting specimens of the Mountain-Pheasant, but on this 
expedition none were obtained. Mr. Salvin writes :— “We 
started at six o’clock in the morning at break of day, reached 
the forest region at nine, and continued climbing until we had 
almost passed out of it into the region of pines and coarse grass 
with which the peak is clothed, but no Oveopfhasis was met with. 
Descending again, we struck the barranco in which José had 
shot the specimens he brought me, but with no better success, 
except that I found unmistakable ‘sign’ in the shape of 
feathers, and the fruit of the tree I had been in search of. 
Though not successful, this expedition was satisfactory in one 
respect—-I had seen a spot where the Oreophasis certainly had 
visited, and where my specimens had been killed. . . . I 
regret that I cannot give any other than José’s account of the 
habits of this bird, but as his stories bear a semblance of truth, 
I do not hesitate in transcribing them. In the early morning 
he told me he usually found them in the upper branches of 
the forest trees, searching for their favourite fruit (a species of 
Prunus) which they eat both ripe and unripe ; as the day ad- 
vances they descend to the underwood, where they remain all 
day, basking and scratching among the leaves. This is pretty 
much what a Penelope or Crax does, both of which I have 
frequently had opportunities of observing in the forests of the 
lowlands. The cry of the bird he could not describe satis- 
factorily. aa 
The Oveophasis is known to the Indians frequenting the 
mountains as “ Khannanay” and to the Ladinos, or half-breed 
Indians, as the “ Faisan.” 
Mr. Salvin informs me that he subsequently shot several ad- 
ditional examples of the Mountain-Pheasant, but his personal 
observations have not yet been published and will appear at 
