80 PIIASIANID.E. 



syllable, like " kyukun, kyukun" repeated slowly and very softly, 

 so as only to be heard at a short distance. The time of breeding 

 varies : March and April on the eastern side of the Nilgiris, 

 October to December on the western, but generally from March 

 to July. From seven to thirteen buff eggs, measuring about 1-84 

 by 1'3S, are laid on the ground, with a few dry leaves, as a rule, 

 beneath them. 



Genus PHASIANUS, Linn., 1766. 



In the true Pheasants the tail is lyng in the males and greatly 

 graduated, shorter in the females, but still longer than the wing, 

 and composed in both sexes of 16 or 18 feathers. There is no 

 crest, but there are small " ear-tut'ts " in the male, one on each 

 side of the occiput. The area round the eye is naked. "Wing well 

 rounded ; first primary about equal to the 8th and longer than the 

 10th. 



Sexes very dissimilar; a spur on each tarsus in the male. 



This genus contains 20 species and ranges throughout temperate 

 Asia from Eastern Europe to Japan. It is not represented in the 

 Himalayas, but two species are found in Mauipur and Burma. 



Key to the Species. 



a. 16 tail-feathers ; cross-bars on middle rectrices 



about an inch apart in female, much more in male. P. humiee, p. 80. 



b. 18 tail-feathers; black cross-bars on middle rec- 



trices much less than an inch apart in both sexes. P. eleyans, p. 81. 



1331. Phasianus humiae. Mrs. Hume's Pheasant. 



Callophasis humiae, Hume, S. F. ix, p. 461 (1881) ; xi, p. 302. 

 Phasianus humijc, Godwin- Austen, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 715, pi. li; 



W. Sclater, Ibis, 1&9I, p. 152; Offiloie Grant, Cat. B.M. xxii, 



p. 335 ; Gates, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. x, p. 112. 



Loe-nin-koi, Mauipur. 



Coloration. Male. Crown brown, tinged with olive and with 

 traces of green metallic gloss : chin dark brown ; neck all round, 

 upper back, and upper breast black, the feathers near their edges 

 glossed with steely blue, the velvety-black centres only showing 

 slightly ; smaller wing-coverts and interscapulars copper-coloured, 

 shot with glowing fiery red ; a broad band of white feathers with 

 black tips and bases across each wing and the scapulars ; parallel 

 to this is a black band, glossed with bronze-green, formed by the 

 tips of the chestnut median coverts ; greater coverts chestnut, 

 tipped with white, forming a second white band ; quills dark brown, 

 edged outside with chestnut, which grows broader on the second- 

 aries and tertiaries, each of which has a subterminal black bar 

 and white or buff tip ; lower back and rump black with metallic 

 purplish gloss, each feather fringed with white ; upper tail- 

 coverts and tail grey, the latter with bars, rather far apart, of 

 black more or less mixed with chestnut, the outer feathers, 



