A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 347 



sible title, seeing* that the bird has a black crest. In both 

 editions of the B. M. Catalogue of Mr. Hodgson's collection 

 (1846 and 1863) Gallophasis leucomelanus \q entered ; but then 

 alhocrutatus is added as a synonym, which is clearly an error. 



But it may be, and indeed has been, held that the Nepal 

 Kalij is a hybrid between alhocristahis and melanotus. In dis- 

 proof of this theoiy I can now bring forward ample evidence. 

 The Nepal Kalij is a most interesting species, exactly inter- 

 mediate in coloration and in habitat to the White-crested and 

 Black -backed Kalij-Pheasants, and is possibly the older form 

 from which the other two have branched off to west and east, 

 and become modified. During the two years I resided in Nepal, 

 I tried in vain, both personally and by the offer of rewards, to 

 obtain a specimen of either alhocristatus or melanotus^ which, 

 on the " hybrid" theory, should have been found there inter- 

 breeding. I have seen scores of the Nepal Kalij (of which 

 at least thirty were adult males) and they were all exactly 

 alike and constant to the definition above given of the species. 

 Any one seeing only a single male bird of leucomelanus would 

 perhaps naturally conclude that it was a hybrid ; but Avhen the 

 two supposed parent-species are found to be entirely absent from 

 the large tract of country where the Nepal Kalij abounds, 

 while the character of the latter are constant in a large series 

 of specimens, the conviction that it is a thoroughly good species 

 seems to me irresistible. 



The Nepal Kalij extends to the east nearly as far as the Aum 

 I believe, melanotus being found east of that river only ; of the 

 range of our bird to the west I have no certain information, but 

 Gallophasis aUocristatus probably replaces it in the extreme 

 western portion of the Nepal territories. 



G. leucomelanus is common, wherever thick forest is found, from 

 Hetourain the Dun to the valley of Nepal ; in all the wooded hills 

 surrounding the latter up to an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet ; 

 and in every forest about Noakot. It is usually seen in pairs or 

 in parties of from three to ten, often feeding on the ground 

 near cultivated patches at the borders of forest. The birds 

 seem very fond of perching on trees, and it is usually in this 

 position that one comes across them in forcing one's way 

 through forest which has a dense undergrowth. On such 

 occasions the Kalij first gives notice of its whereabouts by 

 whirring down with great velocity from its perch and then run- 

 ning rapidly out of sight to the shelter of some thicket. In 

 the winter the birds roost on trees at the foot of the hills, and 

 the plan for making a bag is to post oneself about sunsefc 

 under some trees which they are known to frequent and await 

 their coming. The birds are then soon heard threading their 



