582 



G A L L 1 N I D M. 



not produced, us in the peacocks ; the colours of the 

 male have a very brilliant metallic lustre ; arid the 

 tarsi ire furnished with spurs. 



Lophophorus re/'u/gens is about the size of a turkey. 

 The general colour is black ; but the crest and feathers 

 of the back are relieved by very brilliant reflections of 

 gold and bronze colour, and also bright blue and bright 

 green ; the tail-feathers are red. The prevailing 

 colour of the female and the young birds is brown, 

 clouded with grey arid yellowish. The most remark- 

 able character of these birds, and one in which they 

 differ from all the rest of the order, is that of the bill, 

 which is altogether a long one, and the upper mandi- 

 ble projects a considerable way over the under one, 

 and is truncated at the tip. This mandible is much 

 arched, very strong, and advances on the front of the 

 head between the feathers. It has a strong rounded 

 ridge all along the culmen, with a groove on each 

 side. The under side of it is very much hollowed, 

 and the upper mandible shuts so completely into it as 

 to be invisible when the bill is closed. What parti- 

 cular purpose this singularly-formed bill answers in 

 the economy of the bird has not been ascertained, 

 but it must refer to some peculiarity in the food or 

 the mariner of feeding. The legs are rather short 

 but very strong, and the feathers on the tibia? are so 

 much produced as to hang down nearly as far as the 

 spurs on the tarsi. 



Lophophorus Cuvierii has the same characters of 

 bill as the other species or variety ; but the crest is 

 pendent backwards, and the feathers on the upper 

 part are margined with white. It is also smaller in 

 size than the other, though larger than any of the 

 pheasants. The feathers on the tibiae are also less 

 produced. The female is less than the male, of a 

 brown colour, and with white edges to the feathers 

 on the breast. 



Both these species belong to nearly the same loca- 

 lity, and both are mountain birds, found chiefly, if not 

 exclusively, in the mountainous countries between 

 India and China, not, we believe, on the more lofty 

 ridges and summits of the Himalaya, but on the secon- 

 dary hills and in the upland valleys. In the south 

 of India, and even in Bengal, they are unknown as 

 native birds ; for even at Calcutta they are brought 

 from the north, and esteemed as curiosities. 



Lophophorus Cuvierii. 



It does not appear indeed that there is, on the 

 mountains within and near the tropics, any gallina- 

 ceous birds agreeing in character with the ptarmigan 

 and othor species of mountain grouse of the north. 

 In air and appearance the present birds corresponds 

 in part with the peacocks, in part with the common 

 fowl, and in part with the pheasants; but they differ 



so much from any one of these, that they arc properly 

 made a distinct species. 



TKAGOPON. This genus was by the elder natural- 

 ists included among the pheasants, under the title of 

 the " horned pheasant," from two appendages of the 

 head to be afterwards noticed ; and it was also called the 

 Nepal pheasant, from the country in which it was first 

 discovered. In all its characters, and in irs general 

 air and appearance, it is, however, very different from 

 the pheasants ; and in the shape of the body, and the 

 carriage of the head and neck, it much more nearly 

 resembles a common fowl. The forehead and cheeks 

 are almost naked; the hind part of the head has a 

 crest of loose detached feathers inclining backwards ; 

 there is a slender horn sticking out behind each eye ; 

 and the wattles under the throat are capable of being 

 extended. The upper parts of the male bird are 

 bright red, spotted with white, the white being sur- 

 rounded with a ring of black ; and on the coverts of 

 the wings and upper part of the tail those spots are 

 larger and more distinctly eye-shaped than on any 

 other part of the body. The neck and breast are 

 orange, with white spots surrounded with black ; and 

 those soots become larger on the flanks and thighs. 



Nepal Horned Tragopon (Pheasant). 



The quills and tail-feathers are brown, clouded with 

 a darker shade of the same colour, and the tail is 

 pointed and consists of eighteen feathers, the two 

 parts folding upon each other as in the common fowl. 

 The tarsi are long and strong, armed with short but 

 sharp spurs in both the sexes, but the female is with- 

 out the wattles and horny appendages, and of a brown 

 colour. The naked parts of the feet are bluish white, 

 the toes and claws long but not much arched, and 

 the hind toe is articulated so far up on the tarsus as 

 not to touch the ground in walking. The whole air 

 of the bird, which is rather larger than the common 

 fowl, is expressive of vigour, and that structure of the 

 feet to which we have alluded points out that it is a 

 swift runner, as these organs approach very nearly to 

 those of some of the more flat-footed of the running 

 :>irds. The habits are not much known, but the lengtn 

 of the toes would indicate that the bird frequents the 

 margins of the waters, or otherwise upon soft and 

 soggy grounds. Hitherto it has been found only in 

 the north of India, but how far its geographical dis- 

 tribution extends we arc uninformed. It dors not 

 appear, however, that there is any trace of it in cen- 

 :ral or in western Asia, though we want information 

 respecting the natural history of those mountains 

 which, extending from the Himalaya to the Altaian 





