2 1 2 GALLIFORMES CHAP. 



Space is wanting to describe the various females, or to discuss 

 the sport that Pheasants afford ; but the swift flight, the powers 

 of foot, the polygamous and pugnacious habits, the olive-coloured 

 eggs, and the immense numbers reared artificially, must be 

 noticed. 1 P. reevesi, Eeeves's Pheasant, P. versicolor, the Green 

 Pheasant, and P. soemmerringi, the Copper Pheasant, have also been 

 introduced into Britain, the two latter and P. torquatus into Oregon, 

 P. colchicus into the Eastern United States ; New Zealand has 

 received both P. colchicus and P. torquatus, St. Helena and Ascen- 

 sion P. torquatus only the former island as early as 1513. 



Catreus wallichi of the Himalayas has a brown head with fine 

 white-tipped crest ; a grey neck, yellowish and whitish upper parts, 

 black and buff primaries, and a rufous rump, all with black barring ; 

 the under surface is light buff with black marks, the naked orbits 

 are red. The male has a pair of spurs and very long median 

 rectrices ; the female being brown mottled with black and buff, 

 having a smaller crest, a shorter tail, and at times rudimentary spurs. 

 Considerable flocks frequent the grassy forest-hills up to an altitude 

 of eight thousand feet, lying very closely in the day-time, though 

 running with great speed when disturbed, and flying heavily for a 

 short way ; they feed towards evening on roots, seeds, berries, grubs, 

 and insects, reiterating the peculiar call, whence they are named 

 " Cheer." The slight nest, generally sheltered by a bush or tus- 

 sock at the base of a hill, contains from nine to fourteen whitish 

 or pale drab eggs, sometimes sparingly spotted with red-brown. 



Pucrasia contains six species or local races of " Pukras " or 

 " Koklas " Pheasants, with long, black, erectile ear-tufts in the 

 male, which has a spur on each metatarsus, but no naked cheeks. 

 P. macrolopha of the Western Himalayas has a well-developed 

 buff crest, a greenish -black head and neck with a white patch on 

 each side of the latter, grey upper parts and whitish flanks with 

 black shaft-stripes, brownish wings marked with buff, chestnut 

 under parts and median feathers of the elongated, wedge-shaped 

 tail, and blackish lateral rectrices with white tips. The black 

 and rufous hen has a white throat, a short crest, and no ear-tufts 

 or spurs. P. castanea of North Afghanistan and Kafiristan has 

 the mantle chestnut, P. nipalensis of the Central Himalayas black 

 varied by grey and reddish ; P. meyeri of South Tibet and the 



1 Much interesting information is given in Yarrell's Brit. Birds, ed. 4, iii. 

 1882-84, pp. 91-104, and Tegetmeier, Pheasants: their Nat. Hist, etc., ed. 2, 1881. 



