THE MONALS 2187 



under parts black slightly glossed with green on the throat. The female has a much 

 more sombre plumage, the general color of the upper parts, chest, and sides of the 

 breast being black, with a buff centre to each feather, the lower back and upper tail 

 coverts irregularly barred with the same colors, the sides of the head reddish buff 

 mottled with black, the chin and throat white, and the rest of the under parts mot- 

 tled with black and buff, and with more or less distinct white shaft stripes. The 

 tail is black, barred with rufous and tipped with white. This species ranges through 

 the forests of the Himalayas from Afghanistan to Bhutan. Mr. Hume says " there 

 are few sights more striking where birds are concerned, than that of a grand old 

 cock shooting out horizontally from the hillside just. below one, glittering and flash- 

 ing in the golden sunlight, a gigantic rainbow-tinted gem, and then dropping stone- 

 like, with closed wings, into the abyss below." And Wilson writes that " the monal 

 is found on almost every hill of any elevation from the first great ridge above the 

 plains to the limits of forest, and in the interior it is the most abundant of our game 

 birds. ... In summer, when the rank vegetation which springs up in the 

 forest renders it impossible to see many yards around, few are to be met with ex- 

 cept near the summits of the great ridges jutting from the snow, where morning and 

 evening, when they come out to feed, they may be seen in the open glades of the 

 forest and on the green slopes above. At that time no one would imagine they were 

 half so numerous as they really are, but as the cold season approaches, and the 

 rank grass and herbage die away, they begin to collect, the woods seem full of 

 them, and in some places hundreds may be put up in a day's walk. ... In 

 autumn they all descend into the forest, frequenting those parts where the ground 

 is thickly covered with decayed leaves, under which they search for grubs, and they 

 descend lower as winter sets in and the ground becomes frozen or covered with 

 snow. . . . Still, in the severest weather, when fall after fall has covered the 

 ground to a great depth in the higher forests, many remain there the whole winter; 

 these are almost all males, and probably old birds. In spring all in the lower parts 

 gradually ascend as the snow disappears. ... In summer they are more sepa- 

 rated, but do not keep in individual pairs, several being often found together.. It 

 may be questioned whether they do pair or not in places where they are at all nu- 

 merous; if they do, it would appear that the union is dissolved as soon as the female 

 begins to sit, for the male seems to pay no attention whatever to her while sitting, 

 or to the young brood when hatched, and is seldom found with them. The call of 

 the monal is a loud, plaintive whistle, which is often heard in the forest at daybreak 

 or toward evening, and occasionally at all hours of the day." The eggs are placed 

 in a depression in the ground scratched by the female under some sheltering rock or 

 massive root, and are usually four or five in number, and dull white speckled with 

 red. In Chamba a second species is found lacking the white lower back of the com- 

 mon monal, and having the breast and under parts glossed with green. While the 

 male is represented by only very few skins, the female is still unknown. In the 

 mountains of Northeastern Tibet and Western China the equally brilliant and even 

 larger bird L. V huy sii occurs, the male being recognized by his black tail glossed 

 with bluish green and spotted with white. Lastly, the splendid Sclater's monal, 

 already mentioned, inhabits the Mishmi hills in Assam, and has, in addition to its 



