74 PHASIANID.E. 



feathers, but are wanting on the middle rectrices, on several of the 

 outer pairs, and on the longer tail-coverts ; chin and throat 

 whitish. 



In males the upper inaudible and tip of the lower are black, 

 rest of lower mandible and facial skin pale yellow ; irides white ; 

 legs and feet blackish. In females the bill is brown, paler beneath ; 

 facial skin pale dingy fleshy yellow ; irides deep grey ; legs plum- 

 beous (Davison). 



Length of male about 25 ; tail 14 ; wing 8'5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill from 

 gape 1'3. Length of female 19 ; tail U ; wing 7'5 ; tarsus 2'75. 



Distribution. Hill-ranges of Assam, extending along the base of 

 the Himalayas west to Sikhim, where specimens were recently 

 obtained by Dr. Waddell ; also south of the Assam valley and 

 throughout the whole of Burma, except Pegu, as far south as 

 Mergui and the Laos Mountains in Si;im. 



Habits, tyc. A shy bird, inhabiting dense hill-forest, and but 

 rarely seen, though more often heard ; it has a harsh call, something 

 like a bark often repeated, and generally uttered whenever the 

 bird hears the report of a gun. The breeding-season is about 

 April and May, but very little is known of the nidification. In 

 captivity these birds pair ; the hen lays always two eggs and has 

 two or three broods in the year, but in the wild state the number 

 of eggs is said to be larger. The eggs are buff in colour, and 

 measure about 2 by 1*45. The young when hatched run behind 

 the hen, concealing themselves beneath her broad tail. 



P. bicalcaratum, L., distinguished by having the upper parts 

 pale brown spotted with black, and by the male having a violet 

 crest and only one ocellus on each of the outer tail-feathers, 

 inhabits the Malay Peninsula, and may perhaps occur in Southern. 

 Tenasserim, but its existence there is extremely doubtful. 



Some tail-feathers of a Polyplectrum, found in a Lushai village, 

 were at first referred by Hume (S. F. i, p. 36) to a new species, 

 P. intermedius, but were subsequently regarded by him (S. F. v, 

 p. 118, vii, p. 426 ; Grame B. i, p. Ill) as belonging to P. germaini, 

 Elliot, a Cochin-Chinese species. The small pale spots on these 

 tail-feathers are less closely set than in P. chinquis, and are pale 

 buff on a hair-brown ground, not greyish white on a grey-brown 

 ground; the ocelli, too, are more elongate and etnerald-green. 

 It, of course, remains to be seen whether a distinct form inhabits 

 the Lushai country, for it is not very probable that these tail- 

 feathers were brought from a great distance. 



Genus G-ALLUS, Brisson, 1760. 



This well-marked genus contains the Jungle-fowl, the typical 

 species, G. ferrugineus, being clearly the form from which domestic 

 fowls are derived. The Jungle - fowl are closely allied to 

 Pheasants, and exhibit the same sexual difference of plumage. 

 The males have a fleshy longitudinal coronal crest, known as the 



