OF EASTERN TURKESTAN. 181 
These Pheasants are the most untameable birds it is possible 
to conceive. In confinement they knock their tails to pieces and 
wear all the feathers off their heads in insane attempts at es- 
cape; so that a dozen of these birds after they have been 
captives for awhile become the most ragged crew imaginable. 
Even after being kept in a pheasant-house for months, whenever 
one approached with a dozen yards of them, they were so 
alarmed that they would almost knock theinselves to pieces, 
tumble over each other and fly straight upwards with shrill 
cries, against the roof of their house. The Yarkandis said that 
even when caught young these birds could not be tamed. 
The flesh of this Pheasant is of course very good eating, but 
in my humble opinion does not come up to that of Tetraogallus 
tibetanus. 
This species is said to make its nest in long grass jungle, 
laying from twelve to fifteen eggs; the young birds are said 
to attain full size in about five months. On the 29th May 
nine eggs belonging to this Pheasant were brought to me by 
a grateful patient who lived afew days journey from Yar- 
kand, in the Dolan. I tried to get some of these eggs (and others 
subsequently received) hatched, one lot by a fowl, and some 
by a hen pheasant of this species. The latter of course would 
not sit, but the domestic hen did most perseveringly and without 
result. 
The eggs I have vary in length from 1°61 to 1°88 and in 
breadth from 1°35 to 1:47; but the average of twelve eggs is 
1-805 in length by 1:4 in breadth. The eggs are mostly a broad 
oval, slightly compressed towards one end, in fact very much 
resembling a hen’s egg in shape; but they seem to vary a 
good deal, some being much broader and shorter than others. 
The color too varies considerably: pale café au lait, pale buff, 
and greyish stone color; eggs much incubated are green in 
parts. The eggs are spotless, have a considerable gloss, and in 
a good light the surface is seen to be covered with minute little 
depressions. 
816.—Tetraogallus himalayensis, Gray. 
?. Brought into Yarkand from the hills near Kugiar, 26th 
February.—Length, 23-5; expanse, 33°6; wing, 10:8; tail, 
74; tarsus, 2°5; bill, from gape, 1°4; weight, 3lbs. 20z. Bill, 
slaty above, yellowish horn color at sides and below ;. nostril 
scale, dark orange; membrane covering base of bill, bright 
yellowish orange; lower eyelid, slaty blue ; irides, dark muddy 
brown ; legs and feet, dirty orange color ; claws, black. 
This species was first met with about the Sanju Pass in Sep- 
tember 1874, and numerous specimens were obtained alive at 
