550 TETRAONID^E. 



buff; abdomen white ; flanks and lower belly with dashes of black; under 



tail coverts black ; bill horny ; legs red. (Jerd.) 



Length. 22 inches; wing 10-5 ; tail 7; tarsus 2*5. (jferd.) 



Hab. Kumaon, in the Himalayas, Ladak, and other places across the 



Himalayas. 



Gen. Lerwa. Hodgs. 



Bill short and stout ; orbits feathered ; wings moderately long and pointed, 

 2nd quill longest ; tail of 14 feathers ; tarsi partly feathered and with short 

 spurs in the male. 



1213. Lerwa nivicola (Hodgs.), Jerd., Madras, Journ Lit. 1837; 

 Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 555, No. 817; Hume and Marsh., Game Birds vol. ii. 

 p. i, pi. Perdix lerwa, Hodgs., P. Z. S. 1833; Hardw., III. Ind. Zool. 2, 

 pi. 44, fig. i ; Gould, JB. Asia, pt. vii. pi. 8. The SNOW PARTRIDGE. 



Head of Lerwa nivicola. 



Head, neck and whole upper plumage, including the wings and tail, minutely 

 barred with black and greyish white ; the sides of the neck tinged with 

 chestnut, also the wing coverts ; quills dusky brown, narrowly freckled with 

 buffy white on their outer edges, and the secondaries broadly tipped with white ; 

 tail dusky, with freckled bars of grey and rufous, the feathers black-shafted ; 

 chin greyish ; throat, breast and upper abdomen chestnut red with dashes of 

 buff especially on the flanks ; lower abdomen, vent, and thigh coverts like the 

 back, but with a rufous tinge ; lower tail coverts chestnut red, with buffy white 

 tips. Bill bright red ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet red. 



Length. 1$ to 16 inches; wing 8 ; tail 4 ; tarsus 1*5. 



Hab. The whole extent of the Himalayas to the extreme N.-W. in Sikkim. 

 According to Jerdon they are gregarious in coveys, nestle and breed under 

 jutting rocks, feed on seeds and insects. 



Gen, Prancolinus. Steph. 



Bill very slightly curved at tip ; tail of fourteen feathers, even or rounded ; 

 tarsi of male with blunt spurs. 



1214. Prancolinus vulgaris (Steph.), Gould, B. Enr. pi. 259 ; 



Jerd., B. Ind. iii. p. 558, No. 818 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 537 ; 

 id., Str. F. iv. p. 5 ; id. and Marsh., Game Birds ii. p. 9, pi. ; Murray, 



