LOrHOPHORUS. 97 



buff bars are broader and more regular ; chin and throat white, 

 remainder of lower parts blackish brown, speckled and streaked 

 with buffy white and with more or less distinct white shaft-streaks. 



The young resemble the female except that young males have 

 the throat more or less black and generally are darker throughout. 

 The adult male plumage appears to be gradually assumed, some of 

 the feathers changing in colour without a moult ; and the bird, 

 according to Mr. Wilson, does not attain its full plumage until the 

 second year, whilst the 7th primary remains brown for a year longer. 



Bill dark horny ; irides brown ; naked orbits blue ; legs and 

 feet dull ashy green (Jerdoii). 



Length of males about 28 ; tail 9*5 ; wing 11-5 ; tarsus 3 ; bill 

 from gape 2. Length of females about 25 ; tail 8'5 ; wing 1O5. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas, from Bhutan to 

 Kashmir and even farther west, this Pheasant having been 

 recorded from Chitral and from the Safed Koh in Afghanistan. 

 In Sikhim in summer the range of the Mon t al is from 10,000 to 

 15,000 feet ; in winter lower. In the "Western Himalayas the 

 usual range is from 8000 to 12,000 feet, though the bird may be 

 found in summer up to 15,000, and in winter as low as 4500. 



Habits, <$fc. In summer this gorgeous Pheasant is found near 

 the upper limits of forests, and frequently on the hill-sides above 

 the forests in small numbers ; it is not met with in flocks or 

 coveys, but singly or in twos or threes, females keeping together 

 more than males do ; it lives on insects, seeds, berries, leaves, &c. 

 The call is a loud plaintive whistle. The breeding-season is in 

 May and June, and four, five, or rarely six eggs are laid in a small 

 depression beneath a bush or tuft of grass. The eggs are dull 

 huffy white, speckled with reddish brown, and measure on an 

 average 2-55 by 1/78. 



1343. Lophophorus impeyaniis. The Bronze-lacked Mondl. 



Phasianus impejanus, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 632 (1790). 

 Lophophorus impeyanus, v. Pelz. Ibis, 1873, p. 120 ; Oyihie Grant, 



Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 280. 

 Lophophorus chambanus, C. H. T. Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 421, pi. x. 



The male differs from that of the last species in having no 

 white on the back, the lower back being greenish bronze, the 

 feathers shot and edged with purple ; in the upper tail-coverts 

 being brownish chestnut, tipped with metallic green; and in having 

 the whole of the under surface more or less glossed with metallic 

 green. The female is not known. 



Hitherto the only known locality is Chamba, south-east of 

 Kashmir, where this species was obtained by Col. C. H. T. Marshall. 

 I feel sceptical as to a bird of this rare form having come iuto 

 Latham's hands instead of the Common Monal ; but after examining 

 Latham's description and coloured figure, I am obliged to agree 

 with Mr. Ogilvie Grant that they correspond with the present 

 form and not with L. refulyens. 



YOL. IT. H 



