2l6 GALLIFORMES 



CHAP. 



lands. The flight is rapid and powerful, while the male is said 

 to soar without perceptible movement of the pinions ; the usual 

 cry is a loud melancholy whistle. The long stout beak serves 

 to dig up roots for food ; but grain, fruit, grass, and insect-larvae 

 are also eaten. The nest, or sheltered unlined excavation in the 

 soil, contains from four to six oval cream-coloured eggs, closely 

 spotted or blotched with reddish-brown. The cocks are reported 

 to be non-pugnacious, and the hens semi-gregarious while breed- 

 ing. L. imjieyanus of South Kashmir, the true Impeyan Pheasant, 

 differs in its golden-green lower back and under parts ; L. I'huysi 

 of Sze-chuen and Koko-Nor has an ordinary crest, and white 

 spots on the blue, green, and black tail ; L. sclateri of North- 

 East Assam has a curly crown with no crest, and white-tipped 

 rectrices ; the two latter forms being black beneath and white on 

 the lower back. The slightly-crested females are black, buff, and 

 white ; the lower back is black and buff in L. refulgens, whitish 

 mottled with brown in L. sclateri, and white in L. V levy si. 



Of Tragopan {Ceriornis) there are five species, remarkable for 

 the fleshy blue horn above each eye and the large gular 

 wattle in the male, who erects the former and inflates the 

 latter when courting. The fore-part of the head and throat are 

 naked or merely hairy, while the crested cock-bird possesses a 

 pair of short spurs, rarely present in his mate. C. satyrus, the 

 " Horned Pheasant " of the Central and Eastern Himalayas, has 

 tlie crown and throat black, tlie occiput, neck, and lower parts 

 orange-red with stiff chest-plumes, the back brown, the rerniges 

 and rectrices black and buff. Most of the body-feathers exhibit 

 black-margined white spots, and the outer wing-coverts additional 

 red marks ; while the wattle is orange barred with blue. C. 

 melanocei^halus of the Western Himalayas has a longer crest 

 tipped with red, none of that colour on the occiput, the breast 

 black and red, and a purple wattle with flesh-coloured sides, blue 

 margin and spots. C. temmi7icJci of Central and South-West 

 China has the crest and under parts red, the wattle blue barred 

 marginally with red, and the characteristic spots grey without 

 black rings. C. hlythi of North-East Assam and Manipur has 

 the wattle yellow tinged with blue, and a plain grey breast ; 

 whereas C. cahoti of South-East China has the latter region buff! 

 The hens are black and buff with whitish spots. These shy 

 solitary birds occupy the higher hill -forests, being apparently 





