216 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



by sportsmen hardly worth shooting. Although armed with very powerful spurs, 

 they are said by some observers to be not quarrelsome, and several males and females, 

 will live very quietly together. All these species are omnivorous, eating grain, grass, 

 leaves, seeds, fruits, insects, etc. The end of the hackles of G. sonnerati are very 

 peculiar, being formed of a singularly brittle substance like a fine shaving in texture. 



The sub-family Phasianinae contains five genera, Ithaginis, Eiiplocamus, Lobio- 

 phasis, Thaumalea, and Phasianus, comprising over forty species, some of which are 

 the most beautiful of the Phasianida. The members of the genus first mentioned, 

 known as the blood-pheasants, are by some classed with the partridges, but it would 

 seem that they should more properly be placed with the birds of this family. They 

 are alpine species, the I. cruentis, inhabiting the Himmalehs at a height of ten thou- 

 sand to fourteen thousand feet. The tarsi are armed with numerous spin's, as many 

 as five on one leg and four on the other having been observed on the males. Three 

 species are known, the one mentioned, which is found in Nepal and Sikkim, the I. geof- 

 froyi, from Moupin in north China and Thibet, and the I. sinensis from Chensi. 

 Very little is known of the habits of the two last, but the longer-known species has 

 been met with in its native wilds by several competent naturalists. The I. cruentis 

 goes in flocks of twenty or thirty individuals, always in the immediate vicinity of the 

 snow, but near the forests. In winter it burrows under the snow for protection 

 against storm and the severity of the temperature at the great elevations at which it 

 lives. Its principal food consists of the tops of the pine and juniper, berries and 

 moss. Its flesh has a strong flavor, and is not very tender. The flight is of very 

 short duration, and it quickly runs to shelter. 



Euplocamus contains numerous species, some fourteen or more, and has by differ- 

 ent writers been divided into several sub-genera, but these have not been generally 

 adopted. The species maybe classed in three divisions, the firebacks, the silver and 

 the kalij pheasants. The first of these is represented by six or eight species ; the 

 second by about four, and the third by three or four. The firebacks are of two styles, 

 those with short, square, hen-like tails observed in both sexes, and those with broad, 

 rather lengthened tails. They are birds of very rich plumage, the lower portion of 

 the back being bright, fiery, metallic red, the face is covered with bare skin extending 

 above the eyes, in some species almost like horns, deep blue or bright red in color,, 

 and certain ones also are adorned with full upright crests. They are natives of Siam, 

 the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and Formosa. The species of the last-named 

 island, E. swinhoi, may not strictly be included among the true firebacks, as it lias 

 none of the fiery color on the back, this part being black, the feathers margined with 

 brilliant blue, but the entire scapulars are a deep chestnut red. The rufous-tailed 

 firebacks are the smallest species of the group, have no crests, and the females are also 

 armed with sharp spurs. But little is known of the habits of these splendid birds, 

 save that they frequent thick forests, go in small bands of five or six individuals, feed 

 on berries, leaves, insects, and various grubs, are difficult to flush, but when on the 

 wing fly rapidly and for a considerable distance, and are very pugnacious. Nothing 

 is known of the nidification, but an egg obtained from a captured female of E. meilloti, 

 was large, smooth, and of a pale cafe au lait color. The Siamese fireback, E. proelatus, 

 is a particularly graceful and beautiful bird. It has a long blue upright crest, the 

 shafts bare of webs at the base; neck, breast, and back bluish-ash color, mottled with 

 black ; middle of back golden ; rump and upper tail-coverts black, with blue and green 

 reflections ; the feathers margined with deep velvety crimson. The flanks and under 



