88 THASIANIDJE. 



primaries ; chin and throat thinly clad with white feathers ; fore 

 neck and upper breast chestnut, the feathers with narrow white 

 edges, passing into the black feathers, with white borders all round, 

 of the breast and flanks; abdomen white ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts black and dull chestnut mixed. Young males resemble 

 females. 



Bill whitish in males, upper mandible dark horny brown, lower 

 horny white in females; irides red; facial skin smalt-blue; legs 

 and t'eet vermilion-red (Davixon). 



Length of male about 28; tail J.1 ; wing 11-5; tarsus 4-7; 

 bill from gape 1*7. Length of female 23; tail 8 ; wing 10; 

 tarsus 3'6. 



Distribution. Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, with the 

 southernmost part of Tenasseritn, south of Tenasserim town. 



Habits, &fc. By Davison this Pheasant was found inhabiting the 

 evergreen forests in parties of five or six, the males sometimes 

 apart. The males make a whirring sound with their wings, but 

 were not heard to crow. On one occasion Davison saw an Argus 

 Pheasant (Argusianus argus) driven from its clearing by a Eire- 

 back. An egg of this species laid by a captive hen in July was 

 coloured pale ca/e-au-lait and measured 2*25 by 1'68. 



Crossoptilum, which approaches Loplmra and its allies, is a very 

 remarkable genus, with the sexes alike in plumage, black or slate- 

 blue and white in colour, with a large tail of 20 to 24 feathers, 

 the extremities of the middle pairs much curved. Two or three 

 species are said to have been obtained in Tibet, but none of these 

 has hitherto been found in the Himalayas, although Surgeon- 

 Major AVaddell was informed by Bhoteas that one species, probably 

 C. tibetanum, inhabits some of the passes in Bhutan. 



Genus GENNJEUS, Wagler, 1832. 



The Kalij Pheasants of the Himalayas and the Silver Pheasants 

 form a very natural genus. The head is crested in both sexes, the 

 crest being formed of long narrow feathers, more loose-textured, 

 hairy, and elongate in males. The sides of the head are naked in 

 both sexes, arid crimson in colour ; the naked area ends beneath in 

 a lappet in males. The tarsus is considerably longer than the 

 middle toe and claw, and armed with a stout and long spur in cock 

 birds. The tail, of 36 feathers, is lengthened, compressed, and 

 much graduated, the middle pair of feathers usually the longest, 

 and divergent in males. The 1st primary is shorter than the 10th. 

 Young males assume the adult plumage in the first year. 



All are forest birds, and with a tropical or subtropical habitat, 

 the Himalayan species being found lower down the hills than other 

 Pheasants. The genus inhabits the Himalayas, Burma, China, 

 and Formosa, and he majority of the species occur within Indian 

 i mits. 



