MOONAL PHEASANTS. 83 



plumage was destroyed in his fall, and he turned out to be as 

 tough as an old shoe. Nothing else was seen except a few 

 tehrny. 



Specimens of the moonal or Impeyan pheasant are now so 

 common that any description of it here is quite unnecessary. 

 But looking at a stuffed cock-bird in a shop window, or even 

 alive in captivity, is very different from seeing him in his 

 native mountains as he sails away over the blue depths of 

 some wild rocky gorge, where his loud whistling cry is echoed 

 and re-echoed among the neighbouring crags and precipices. 

 Then is the time to see his splendid plumage to its best ad- 

 vantage, as the sun glints on the brilliant metallic hues of his 

 neck and the dark purplish blue of his outstretched wings 

 colours so strangely contrasting with the snow-white patcli 

 on his back and the deep orange of his fan-shaped tail, which 

 he always outspreads when in flight. The hen is modestly 

 dressed in her sombre brown but gamely marked feathers, 

 the only bright colour in her attire being the sky-blue skin 

 round her eyes, and a pure white mark on her throat. The 

 quantity of these beautiful birds annually killed to meet the 

 demand for the adornment of ladies' bonnets, &c., is so great 

 that one might suppose the supply would soon be exhausted. 

 But as the plumage of the cock-bird only is used for such 

 purposes, the general decrease in their numbers has not as 

 yet become very apparent. 



Moonals are often a great nuisance on tahr ground, where 

 they are almost invariably numerous. Sometimes an old 

 rascal will, on observing the stalker, set up his loud alarm 

 \vhistlr, and thus warn the tahr of impending danger, making 

 them restless and suspicious, and consequently more ilillimlt 

 to approach. 



Towards the afternoon it began to rain pretty heavily ; we 

 tin irfun- n tiinifd to our lodging for shelter. By way of 

 employment we commenced digging out the lump of stum* 

 i hat had made my couch so unpleasant. This we found no 



