132 PHASIANID^. 



pt. 2, p. 69 ; Hume. # Marsh. Game B. ii, p. 33 ; C. H. T. Marshall, 

 Ibis, 1884, p. 423 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 431. 



Oaccabis pallescens, Hume, Lah. to York. p. 283. 



Caccabis pallidus, Hume, t. c. p. 284. 



Chukar, H. ; Kabk, P. ; Kau-kau, Kashmir ; CJiukru, Cliamba. 



Coloration. Upper parts varying from brownish olive to ashy, 

 the upper back and scapulars, and sometimes the crown, tinged 

 with vinous red ; outer scapulars pure ashy with broad rufous 

 edges : sinciput and sides of crown always grey, supercilia buffy, 

 ear-coverts dull chestnut ; a black band across the forehead to each 

 eye, continued behind the e} r e round the throat and forming a 

 gorget ; extreme tip of chin and a spot at each side of gape 

 black ; lores, sides of head, and throat white or pale buff ; quills 

 brown, all primaries except the first with the outer web buff near 

 the tip, and a buffy patch on the outer edge of most secondaries 

 near the end ; middle tail-feathers drab like the rump, terminal 

 half of outer tail-feathers chestnut ; breast ashy tinged more or 

 less with brown, and the sides with vinous; abdomen and lower 

 tail-coverts light to dark buff ; feathers of the flanks grey at the 

 base, each with two black bars, buff between the bars, and chestnut 

 at the ends. 



Birds from the Himalayas are darker and browner, those from 

 Ladak, the Western Punjab, Sind, and other dry open tracts are 

 greyer and paler. The black gorget varies in breadth. 



Bill and legs red ; irides brown, yellowish, or orange. 



Length of male about 15 ; tail 4'25 ; wing 6'5 ; tarsus 1'8 ; bill 

 from gape 1*1. Female rather smaller, length 14 ; wing t>. 



Distribution. Throughout the greater part of Western and 

 Central Asia from the Levant to China. This species occurs in 

 the Himalayas as far east as Nepal throughout a great range of 

 elevation ; also in the hilly parts of the Punjab, and in the higher 

 ranges of Sind west of the Indus. A closely-allied form, in fact 

 only a race, C. saxatilis, distinguished by its black lores, inhabits 

 the mountains of Southern Europe. 



Habits, $c. The Chukor keeps, as a rule, to open hillsides, 

 amongst scattered bushes or grass, but it is also found in 

 better wooded country and in cultivated fields. These birds 

 keep in coveys throughout the winter, and sometimes the coveys 

 associate in flocks. They are noisy, and often utter the loud 

 chuckling double note from which their name is taken. In spring 

 they break up into pairs, and they breed from April to August, 

 later at higher elevations than at lower, from 5000 or 6000 feet up 

 to 12,000, and higher, even at 16,000 in Tibet. The nest, a few 

 leaves and fibres or a little grass on the ground, contains from 7 to 

 14 eggs, generally 8 to 10 ; these are pale cafe-au-lait in colour, 

 spotted and speckled with purplish pink or brown, and measure 

 about 1-68 by 1-25. 



Chukor, where they are abundant, afford fair shooting ; but 

 they are inferior for the table to partridges, in general being 

 rather dry. 



